With just two weeks before education and certification classes are due to begin at CEDIA Expo 2021, with exhibits to follow Sept. 1-3, Samsung and Sony cemented their withdrawal from the show Monday. "The health and safety of our employees and the public is our top priority," emailed Samsung Monday. "Due to the recent rise of infection rates, we have made the difficult decision to withdraw from exhibiting in-person at this year’s CEDIA Expo." The company will connect with industry partners directly in coming weeks to share its latest products and programs for the channel, it said.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg was right to dismiss the FTC’s antitrust case against Facebook (see 2106280057), but he created a road map for the agency to replead its monopoly case against the social network, antitrust attorneys said in interviews.
Sound United and Sonos joined the ranks Friday of exhibitors pulling out of CEDIA Expo due to concerns over the COVID-19 delta variant. James Krakowski, Sound United vice president-commercial operations, told us Thursday the company was fully expecting to exhibit at the Sept. 1-3 show in Indianapolis “until last week” when infection rates across the country escalated, causing the company to put plans on pause. Friday, he told us he informed Expo owner Emerald that Sound United would pull out of CEDIA completely “due to the safety of my employees and their families.”
Disney+ ended fiscal Q3 July 3 with 116.6 million paid subscribers, up 12.4 million from fiscal Q2, Disney announced Thursday. The subscriber count exceeded analysts’ consensus estimates of 115.2 million at the end of the quarter. Hotstar in India generated about 80% of the Q3 subscriber net adds, and “its contribution to the overall sub base is approaching the high end of management's 30%-40% long-term target,” Cowen told investors on Friday.
Broadcasters and the recording industry remain at odds over a longstanding legislative debate about the prospect of performance royalty payments for radio airplay. Interviews with NAB and former Rep. Joe Crowley, D-N.Y., chairman of musicFIRST, a group that represents artists’ interests, highlighted the divide.
As ISPs face a growing number of lawsuits by music labels accusing them of complacency in battling piracy by their subscribers, intellectual property and copyright experts say it's not clear whether broadband internet access service providers have modified their procedures in response or whether such contributory and vicarious copyright infringement suits will continue to be filed and potentially won for years to come.
Despite an order backlog situation caused by industry-wide component shortages that it expects to stretch into FY 2022, Sonos raised full-year revenue guidance for FY 2021, in its Wednesday fiscal Q3 earnings report. Guidance is now $1.69-$1.71 billion, for 28%-29% year-on-year growth, vs. previous guidance of $1.62 billion-$1.67 billion. Revenue for the quarter ended July 3 rose 52% to $378.7 million.
FuboTV shares rose 11% Wednesday to close at $31.82 after Q2 revenue and subscriber numbers were well above projections. The virtual MVPD raised full-year revenue guidance by 15 percentage points at the midpoint to $560 million-$570 million, a 116% increase vs. 2020, and end-of-year subscriber count to 910,000-920,000, a 67% bump. Q3 revenue is estimated to be $140 million-$144 million, with an end-of-quarter subscriber count rising 79% to 810,000-820,000.
TikTok is fielding a wave of user complaints about content takedowns and account suspensions, after the platform’s shift to more automated moderation. TikTok is removing content and accounts based on false violations, one user told us. Others expressed frustration over seemingly frivolous takedowns. Content moderation experts told us automation is necessary at TikTok’s scale, but the platform can act to minimize mistakes.
Samsung championed openness, innovation and partnerships on its Wednesday virtual Unpacked 2021 event introducing the latest generation of foldable Galaxy smartphones, smartwatches and earbuds.