The American Antitrust Institute's June 17 annual conference, which was to be in Washington, instead will be done via four-part podcast due to the pandemic, it said Monday. AIA said the podcast episodes will be available later this spring.
CTA plans to proceed as scheduled with CES 2021 Jan. 6-9 in Las Vegas, though the show will have changes, emailed the association Tuesday. “Almost every major exhibitor has signed up.” The show will “implement changes to enable social distancing,” said CTA. “These include widening aisles within our exhibit facilities, more space between seats in our conference program and other areas where attendees congregate.” The association will issue “best practices for exhibitors on demonstrating products and for attendees, such as wearing masks and avoiding shaking hands,” it said. CTA is working “on options to expand the show digitally,” it said. “Construction work continues during the pandemic on the new West Hall expansion at the Las Vegas Convention Center, said CTA. Local authorities recently began the work of pouring 600,000 square feet of concrete flooring in the main exhibit hall, it said: “The process will take between four and five months to complete -- a major step forward in the expansion construction, which is now 77% complete.”
The FCC isn't backing down against robocalls, Wireline Bureau Chief Kris Monteith told an FCBA webinar Tuesday. “Work is ongoing at the commission and growing on all fronts,” she said. “We will continue to make policy to allow for better enforcement to promote industry efforts to prevent robocalls."
Some want more clarity about the FCC's role regulating broadband, said comments posted through Tuesday. The agency asked to refresh dockets including 17-287, on how broadband service's reclassification as an information, not telecom, service affects authority over Lifeline, pole attachment agreements and public safety. Commenters disagreed whether the FCC should reconsider based on the public safety considerations.
President Donald Trump renewed his support Tuesday for efforts to include broadband funding in a fourth major COVID-19 legislative package, amid continued Capitol Hill interest in addressing broadband in future pandemic-related measures. The fortunes of broadband funding as part of future pandemic-related bills fluctuated in the weeks since Trump signed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, the most recent aid bill (see 2003270058). Many tech and telecom entities listed proposals to include broadband funding in HR-748 and future aid legislation as one of the issues they lobbied the Hill on during Q1.
Institutional Shareholder Services recommended against most of a slate of candidates for Tegna’s board supported by the broadcaster's largest shareholder Standard General (see personals section, this issue), Tegna said Friday. Tegna "shareholders should be concerned about the potentially heightened impact of boardroom dysfunction, given the current environment,” said ISS. Standard and Tegna each created websites backing their preferred board candidates (see 2003310054). Tegna disagreed with the ISS report’s recommendation of a single Standard supported candidate, Colleen Brown. The report recommends Brown as a check on the current board’s evaluation of future deals. “The TEGNA Board’s actions demonstrate that such a check is not necessary,” the TV station owner said. Standard released a statement Monday from its CEO Soohyung Kim blasting Tegna’s Q1 performance, with revenue of $684 million, up 32 percent year-over-year, as “disappointing.” “Even after years of under-performance, the Board refuses to acknowledge the need for change,” Kim said. Tegna CEO Dave Lougee called the performance “strong” in the Q1 release. The company suspended its 2020 guidance and 2021 preliminary outlook: “The full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly with regard to the broader advertising industry, remains uncertain.” Current leadership has “successfully managed through recessionary operating environments in the past, and we are confident that we are well equipped to successfully navigate the challenges that will come,” the Tegna release said.
Despite COVID-19, TV stations are “still targeting” the launch of ATSC 3.0 services in the top 40 markets by the end of 2020 (see 1904080071), Pearl TV Managing Director Anne Schelle told us. “We might not get all of them on by the end of the year, but we’ll get a respectable number.” The goal for 2021 will be to “continue to build out these markets,” said Schelle. Though “all parts of the economy are stressed” during the pandemic, 3.0 is “in a good position,” said Schelle. “We’ll come out of it providing a respectable build to meet the TV manufacturers’ needs for sales in the back half of this year.” There have been no “supply-chain issues” with critical broadcast equipment, said Schelle. “A lot of it was already pre-done” before the pandemic, and “most of the stations out there are ready for next-gen,” she said. Pearl had planned to use the NAB Show to update industry on 3.0's “application framework” it showcased at CES, said Schelle. It had partnership announcements planned for Las Vegas with vendors supplying 3.0 cable-integration equipment, she said: “We’ll be pushing those announcements” to the NAB Show Express virtual event planned for May 13-14 (see 2004130048).
The Trump administration’s 90-day “limited duty deferral” for importers is “welcome news to retailers,” said National Retail Federation CEO Matthew Shay Monday. Many importers are getting “diminished or no revenue” during the pandemic “while still incurring costs, including the duties, taxes, and fees associated with imported merchandise for their clients and supply chains,” said Customs and Border Protection Sunday. “Aggravating matters, many major retail chains” are closing their stores voluntarily or to comply with mandated shutdowns, it said. The 90-day deferral “provides some retailers with additional liquidity and better cash flow, giving hope for business continuity and a faster recovery once the pandemic has passed,” he said. The deferral doesn’t apply to the Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods, which remain in effect. “We encourage the administration to broaden these deferrals for additional relief,” said Shay. The Information Technology Industry Council welcomes the administration's "action to alleviate tariff burdens," said CEO Jason Oxman Monday. "We urge more expansive action for the more than $370 billion of goods subject to Section 301 tariffs," he said: "Deferring payment on these tariffs would provide much-needed flexibility and facilitate the delivery of assets to U.S. healthcare providers, companies, and consumers” amid COVID-19.
Commerce Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and three other senators urged the chamber’s leaders Sunday to include language in COVID-19 legislation to make broadcasters and local newspapers eligible for the Small Business Administration-run Paycheck Protection Program established in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act. SBA’s affiliation rule bars assistance to companies owned or controlled by larger entities. House Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman David Cicilline, D-R.I., and Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., made a similar call to that chamber’s leaders, Cantwell’s office said. The American Television Alliance opposes the bar for stations (see 2004160063). “Ensuring that local news outlets remain viable at this critical time is not only a matter of fairness, but is essential to public health,” Cantwell and the other senators wrote Majority Letter Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.; NAB, the News Media Alliance and others indicate (see 2004090066) the pandemic caused news outlets to lose “major advertising revenue.” The others signing the letter were Sens. John Boozman, R-Ark.; John Kennedy, R-La.; and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. “Stations are suffering advertising losses of historic proportion that will undermine this critically important service,” said NAB CEO Gordon Smith. “We urge Congressional leaders to support this proposal.” SBA “loans have allowed some local news publishers to keep reporters employed and their newsrooms running,” said NMA CEO David Chavern. “But too many publishers have been left out.”
Amazon had about 118 million Prime members in the U.S. March 31, partially bolstered by more trial conversions during COVID-19, reported Consumer Intelligence Research Partners Monday. Prime members were 65% of Amazon shoppers in the most recent quarter, CIRP said. Conversion rate, which had "trended down" over the past few years after monthly membership's launch, increased by five points over the past year, said analyst Mike Levin. CIRP surveyed 500 U.S. consumers who bought on Amazon.com January-March.