The FCC’s approach to regulatory fees results in broadcasters paying for full-time employees in agency divisions such as the Office of Engineering and Technology that don’t work on broadcast issues, and the agency shouldn’t raise fees during the COVID-19 pandemic, NAB President Gordon Smith told Chairman Ajit Pai, according to an ex parte filing posted Friday in docket 20-105 (see [Reg:2006300070]). “NAB cannot recall a case in recent memory where OET expended resources to work on an issue impacting the radio industry,” the filing said. The pandemic has “gutted” radio operations, NAB said. “Of all times, now is not the one for the Commission to turn its back on its duty to consider that the radio industry has not received any additional benefits from the work of the Commission during FY2020,” the filing said. “The NPRM continues to approach regulatory fees as if Congress never passed the RAY BAUM’S Act,” said the filing. That 2018 law in part addressed how the FCC calculates regulatory fees (see 2004220048).
FCC failure to coordinate with states on the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund forced the Illinois Office of Broadband “to delay its preferred timeline for accepting applications and awarding [state] funds, so as not to jeopardize the plans of any potential bidders in Auction 904,” the Office of Broadband said in a Monday-posted filing in docket 10-90 about a Tuesday meeting with aides to Democratic Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks. “These delays have come at a particularly inopportune time, just as the COVID-19 pandemic has heightened the importance of broadband in the daily life of all Americans.” A 25 Mbps download, 3 Mbps upload speed “is unlikely to meet the nation’s broadband needs over the coming decade,” the office added. An order on circulation at the FCC rejects the Illinois office’s petition for reconsideration of the RDOF order (see 2008100043).
Nearly three-quarters of U.S. consumers shopped more online during the pandemic, a healthinsurance.com survey found. The healthcare shopping website canvassed 1,600 online Aug. 6-7, finding 76% of millennials and 73% of Gen Xers used e-commerce more during lockdown. The prevalence of increased online shopping was lowest among baby boomers at 67%. The vast majority of consumers spend more time on their phones and computers. Increased tech use is higher among Gen Xers (75%) and millennials (74%) than boomers (65%). Americans 61%-39% say they need a “digital detox." The sentiment was strongest among boomers (78%), less so with millennials (51%). Gen Xers alone shunned the idea. Apple Watch is the wearable of choice among 25% of consumers, Fitbit at 23%. Consumers are evenly split between those who used telemedicine services during COVID-19 and those who didn’t. Americans by a 60% majority feel “more comfortable” about using telemedicine now than they were six months ago, and 54% plan to continue using it after the pandemic. Twenty-eight percent of consumers who binge-watch content prefer doing so on a nondescript smart TV over a Roku or Amazon Fire TV.
The Progressive Policy Institute touted support Monday from Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Communications Subcommittee ranking member Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, for the group’s white paper with Americans for Prosperity urging Congress make permanent its temporary lifting of some telehealth restrictions during the pandemic. Lawmakers lifted some limits on telehealth eligibility for Medicare in March via the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act and other laws (see 2003250046). “In light of the experience of the past few months, and the benefit to patients, it would be exceedingly odd to go back to the pre-Covid status quo,” the paper said. “Consensus seems to be forming in favor of making those gains permanent.” AFP and PPI urged Congress to continue allowing Medicare recipients to use telehealth outside of rural areas and at home, and to allow providers to deliver such services to current and new Medicare patients. The groups also urged additional broadband funding to boost telehealth availability. “It is refreshing to see two groups with such different perspectives come together to support greater access to telehealth,” Wicker said in a PPI news release. When Schatz “and I started our telehealth working group years ago, we chose to work on bipartisan policy that would improve access to health care and save lives. We will continue to work together to ensure Americans can enjoy the benefits of telehealth for years to come.” Telehealth "is a rare area with strong bipartisan support and it’s here to stay,” Schatz said: “While we have made some progress in Congress on expanding access to telehealth during this pandemic, we have more work to do to make these changes permanent and allow more patients" to take part.
Q2 smartphone imports to the U.S. increased by double digits sequentially from Q1, amid China's supply chain recovery to pre-COVID-19 levels after the pandemic brought factories to a halt in much of February into March. The quarter-to-quarter increase masked subdued smartphone demand attributable to the decline in consumer spending. Year-over-year smartphone imports fell by double digits in Q2, consistent with IDC reporting a 12.6% decrease in second-quarter U.S. handset shipments.
Antitrust Chief Makan Delrahim is more likely to act to change the ASCAP and BMI music licensing degrees than Congress is, and any move DOJ makes in that direction is likely to be an uneasy process and complicated by the presidential election, broadcast and music licensing attorneys said in interviews this and last week. DOJ held a workshop on the possibility last month (see 2007290068). “It remains apparent from the continuing attention that the Antitrust Division is paying to the issue of consent decree reform that the DOJ may act” to modify the decrees, said Weil Gotshal intellectual property attorney Benjamin Marks, who represented the TV Music Licensing Committee. “I don’t think Congress is likely to take up the issue before the election or in the short term."
IQiyi said it’s cooperating with the SEC Enforcement Division as it seeks financial records dating to January 2018, after short-seller firm Wolfpack Research alleged April 7 the company, known as the Netflix of China, was “committing fraud well before” its initial public offering two years ago. IQiyi hired “professional advisers to conduct an internal review” into the allegations, it said Thursday. IQiyi parent Baidu has “zero tolerance for fraud,” said CEO Robin Li on a quarterly call. “When there is a short-seller for an issue against our subsidiary, especially one that's quite autonomous, it is important to get an independent opinion.” This “is part of good corporate governance, and we think this validation process is important to earn investors' trust,” he said. Li isn't involved in the review, he said: “With COVID-19 in the backdrop, one should expect this process to be longer than normal. In past cases without a pandemic, we have seen investigations lasting months and sometimes beyond a year.” IQiyi shares closed 11.2% lower Friday at $19.26. Baidu was down 6.3% at $116.74.
Staples unveiled a “Working Well” campaign, positioning itself as the pandemic’s “move-forward resource for everything from social distancing in the workplace to productive Zoom calls at home.” It’s marketing common items like gloves, masks and hand sanitizer for a safe return to the physical office, plus clear partitions, air filtration products, and signs and social-distancing markers.
The “digital world” of telework and remote learning is more important during the pandemic, but 98% of websites have “critical accessibility barriers,” said AudioEye Executive Chairman Carr Bettis on a quarterly call Thursday. The company markets website accessibility tools for the vision-impaired. Though demand “remains very strong,” COVID-19 is impacting customers and prospects “across all our channels,” said Bettis. New business deals are being “delayed a little,” and AudioEye imposed “more flexible pricing and other options," he said. The “marginal” decrease in renewals is from factors “out of our control, such as bankruptcy proceedings or outright business closures,” he said. The pandemic is impacting businesses worldwide, “even more so” in Q2, Bettis said. “It's going to be reasonable to expect some impact on AudioEye's financial and operating performance.” The company also reshuffled management (see personals section, this issue).
All Applied Materials factories and R&D labs “are running smoothly at pre-COVID levels of productivity,” said CEO Gary Dickerson on a fiscal Q3 call Thursday. “We remain mindful of global economic concerns and that consumer spending is a potential headwind for many sectors, including the electronics industry.” The company supplies vapor-deposition equipment and services to Chinese panel makers and can be a bellwether of display industry health.