In wake of the Paris and San Bernardino, California, terrorist attacks, Jack Kleinhenz, chief economist at the National Retail Federation, worries about the “geopolitical fears” of terrorism and the impact those fears might have on consumer confidence heading into 2016, he said on a Monday webinar that NRF sponsored jointly with the Consumer Technology Association. “My concern is whether those fears get more intense and translate into a bit of a holdup” in how consumers “see the future,” Kleinhenz said. “I believe consumers are going to spend based on their confidence,” he said. “Consumer confidence numbers are important. They’re a little bit fickle at times.” News coverage about the Paris and San Bernardino attacks “clearly leaves consumers unsettled and upset,” CTA Chief Economist Shawn DuBravac said. “But I don’t know if consumers broadly view all of these terrorist attacks in a connected way, such that it changes their overall perception of the trajectory of the economy, as it relates to their own financial well-being,” he said.

Despite the diversity of content consumption options, “traditional linear TV” remains a favorite among children aged 3 to 12, Futuresource Consulting’s Kid’s Tech study found. Futuresource in July canvassed more than 1,000 kids and their parents in each of four markets -- China, Germany, the U.K. and the U.S. -- and found that 40 percent of the kids it studied rely primarily on free broadcast TV for their content, Futuresource said in a report. Online video services such as Netflix are at 25 percent, up from 22 percent a year ago. The study also said “the main TV screen seems to be maintaining its position as the main window to the kids' world of entertainment content.” It found 55 percent of the kids it studied in the survey watching content on the main TV screen for an average of more than six hours a week, it said Thursday. By comparison, fewer than three in 10 are watching video on a smartphone or tablet for more than six hours a week, it said.

Google’s Chromecast Audio and Google Cast could emerge as market leaders for streaming audio platforms despite competition from DTS’ Play-Fi, Qualcomm’s AllPlay and Apple’s AirPlay, ABI Research analyst Michael Inouye said in a report Thursday. “Both the device and technology have potential to be key influencers in expanding the market reach of networked audio devices by capitalizing on heightened market attention.” Google’s success with Chromecast showed the importance that pricing plays in consumer uptake of streaming media devices, Inouye said.

Nearly 8 percent of U.S. broadband households will buy a 4K UHD TV this year, said Parks Associates research released Wednesday. Some 42 percent of those surveyed said they weren’t familiar with 4K technology, said Parks. Other challenges for 4K are premium prices for the technology, it said. Functionality and Wi-Fi led the features consumers valued in TVs, said analyst Barbara Kraus. "Content availability remains a key inhibitor to 4K adoption.”

Despite the findings in a Natural Resources Defense Council report that high dynamic range potentially could have a “bigger impact” on TV energy use than the jump to Ultra HD itself (see 1511200032), the group’s energy-efficiency point man has no regrets that HDR didn’t get more play in the Energy Star 7.0 TV spec that took effect Oct. 30, he emailed us last week. EPA began working on the Energy Star 7.0 TV spec in December 2013 and finished the spec a year later when HDR technology still had little industry visibility, agency officials have said. NRDC’s “hope” is that EPA “will include HDR in its next revision” of the Energy Star TV spec, said NRDC Senior Scientist Noah Horowitz. “The missing piece of course is the absence of HDR content in the test method.” Unless an HDR-ready set is tested with real HDR content, one can’t “capture the extra energy consumed by these TVs when HDR content is played,” Horowitz said. EPA officials have told us they’ll monitor market developments to see whether HDR “correlates” with an increase in TV power consumption, and if it does, they'll begin revising the Energy Star TV spec to account for that.

Dolby faces “significant challenges” in China enforcing intellectual property and other rights, as the company is expanding its business with cable and Web content providers, it said in its annual SEC filing. Dolby technology most recently supported in the Microsoft Edge browser, and Comcast plans to support Atmos in its X1 platform next year, said the vendor. In Dolby’s mobile business, its technologies are in 12 handsets and tablets from Amazon, HTC, Lenovo, LG, Microsoft and ZTE, while Dolby Atmos has been adopted in a dozen handsets and tablets from Lenovo and Amazon, it said. Dolby believes additional Dolby Vision titles from content providers will “soon be available through Netflix,” it said. As of Sept. 25, Dolby had about 5,100 issued patents expiring at various times through 2040, the company said last week.

Global shipments of connected TV devices, which include smart TVs, videogame consoles and digital media streamers, jumped 18 percent in Q3 to 52.7 million units, from 44.5 million in Q3 2014, Strategy Analytics reported. Shipments of smart TVs, which have the largest share (47 percent) of installed connected TV devices, grew 26 percent to 30.1 million units, the research firm said Tuesday. Consumers “increasingly expect their next TV purchase” to be a smart TV, it said. Samsung remained brand-share leader in smart TV shipments, followed by LG.

Video programming distributors had to ensure starting Thursday that televised emergency information conveyed visually outside newscasts is also being conveyed aurally through a secondary audio stream, the FCC Media Bureau said in a reminder public notice Wednesday. The rule change, approved in April as part of FCC implementation of the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, is intended to allow the blind and visually impaired to receive the same emergency information often made available on TV through text crawls, the PN said.

The Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting period for comScore buying Rentrak has expired, comScore said in a news release Tuesday. The deal's closing is still awaiting approval by comScore and Rentrak shareholders but has been approved by the boards of both companies, it said. The deal is expected to close in January, it said. When complete, comScore stockholders are expected to own about 66.5 percent of the new company, and Rentrak shareholders are expected to own about 33.5 percent, said the acquirer. The audience measurement companies have said various media firms back the deal (see 1510080044).

Technicolor completed its acquisition of Cisco’s connected devices operations for $450 million cash and $150 million in newly issued Technicolor shares, Technicolor said in a Friday announcement. The acquisition, announced in late July (see 1507230028), includes a “strategic collaboration agreement” with Cisco that will allow both companies to develop and deliver “next generation video and broadband technologies,” with a special emphasis on IoT “solutions and services,” Technicolor said. In a separate development Friday, Cisco announced plans to acquire Acano, a privately held London-based company that supplies “collaboration infrastructure and conferencing software.” The acquisition will speed Cisco’s “collaboration strategy to deliver video everywhere, providing the best collaboration experience across every endpoint, every screen, every workspace, and to every user," the company said. Terms weren’t disclosed.