AT&T's simultaneous spinoff of WarnerMedia and joining it with Discovery is expected by some to skate through regulatory OK. AT&T said the deal announced Monday will result in a huge increase in customers it serves by fiber and its 5G C-band network.
The preliminary injunction the Section 301 plaintiffs seek to freeze liquidations of unliquidated customs entries from China with Lists 3 and 4A tariff exposure (see 2104230059) is “unwarranted,” falls short of the high legal "bar" required and if granted, “would impose an enormous administrative burden” on Customs and Border Protection when the agency is already stretched thin, argued DOJ’s opposition (in Pacer) Friday at the U.S. Court of International Trade. Importers filed for the injunction April 23 after DOJ refused to stipulate it would support refunds of liquidated entries if the plaintiffs won the litigation and the tariffs were declared unlawful.
The cost of hi-res music came down for consumers Monday, with Amazon and Apple announcements that lossless music will be available to users at the price of a standard streaming music subscription. That’s $7.99 for Amazon Prime members, $9.99 for non-Prime users and $14.99 for Amazon’s family plan.
Financial analysts spared Disney little lenience for reporting the first quarterly Disney+ subscriber growth miss since the streaming service’s November 2019 U.S. launch. Disney+ ended fiscal Q2 April 3 with 103.6 million paid subscribers, increasing by nearly 9 million sequentially from Q1 but shy of consensus estimates of more than 109 million for the end of the quarter.
The Senate intends to take up the Endless Frontier Act perhaps in the next week in a package of legislation, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the floor Thursday. He’s hopeful for a Senate vote this month, he said.
After agreeing to pay $20 million to settle an FTC complaint last month that the company misused credit reports to help unqualified customers obtain financing for products and services, Vivint is “pleased to put this matter behind us,” said CEO Todd Pedersen on the company’s Q1 earnings call Thursday. Vivint “takes matters of compliance seriously,” said the executive.
The Senate Commerce Committee advanced Lina Khan’s FTC nomination to the Senate floor, with four Republicans opposed (see 2105070062). The committee also approved the Endless Frontier Act (S-1260) 24-4 during Wednesday’s markup.
Google is “disappointed that Sonos has made false claims about our partnership and technology,” said a Google spokesperson Thursday. Sonos Chief Legal Officer Eddie Lazarus told investors on a quarterly call Wednesday that a German court granted Sonos a preliminary injunction against a European Google affiliate for infringing a Sonos patent. The patent enables and controls the transfer of media content from a mobile phone or tablet to one or more playback devices, said Lazarus, a former FCC and media-industry official.
The Wireless Speaker and Audio Association (WiSA) will add two top-10 TV brands to its lineup this quarter, after adding Hisense and more LG TVs and a projector in Q1, said Summit Technologies CEO Brett Moyer on a Q1 call Wednesday. Summit reported Q1 revenue of $1.2 million, up 181% from Q1 2020. Q2 guidance is for 250% year-on-year growth up from $348,000 in Q2 2020. Shares closed 31% higher Wednesday at $3.38.
Sports-centric virtual MVPD fuboTV reported 43,000 sequential net subscriber additions in Q1 to 590,430 vs. a loss of 28,000 in largely pre-COVID-19 pandemic Q1 2020, said the company shareholder letter Tuesday. Revenue rose 135% year on year to $119.7 million in the quarter ended March 31. Advertising revenue jumped 206% year on year to $12.6 million; monthly average revenue per user (ARPU) grew 28% to $69.09. Net loss narrowed to $40.7 million from $66.6 million in the year-ago quarter, it said.