Sony didn’t respond to questions about the nature of the large-screen TVs it’s importing from China under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule’s 8528.72.64.60 subheading for sets with screen sizes exceeding 45 inches, one of the more standout disclosures in Sony’s Section 301 complaint Wednesday at the U.S. Court of International Trade (see 2103180054). The TVs have List 4A tariff exposure, and Sony joined the roughly 3,500 other complaints inundating the court for a finding that the List 3 and 4A tariffs are unlawful and for an order refunding the duties paid.

The U.S. domestic parcel market is expected to grow to 101 million packages a day by calendar 2022, with e-commerce “contributing 86% of total U.S. market growth,” said Brie Carere, FedEx chief marketing and communications officer, on a Thursday earnings call for fiscal Q3 ended Feb. 28. E-commerce was about 21% of U.S. retail sales in calendar Q4 2020, “significantly above the pre-pandemic level,” she said.

Amazon’s score last week in NFL long-term media rights distribution agreements is a “big win” for the tech giant, LightShed Partners wrote investors Friday. The long-term media distribution rights agreements with Amazon, CBS, ESPN/ABC, Fox and NBC take effect in 2023 and run through 2033, said the NFL Thursday.

Discovery and monetization are among challenges streaming sports services face in the post-pandemic world, a Brightcove webinar heard Thursday. Even as fans worldwide turned to watching shows about sports in the absence of live sports during the pandemic, streamers, too, saw a decline in time spent watching sports content, said Brightcove analyst Jim O’Neill.

The pandemic forced many companies “to simultaneously transform multiple parts of their enterprise and reskill their people in what previously would have been sequential programs,” said Accenture CEO Julie Sweet on a fiscal Q2 call Thursday.

To address threats to 5G security, the FCC needs to work closely with the rest of the federal government, said acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Congressional Spectrum Caucus co-Chair Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., at a Center for Strategic and International Studies webinar Thursday. That was Rosenworcel’s theme as a minority commissioner -- that spectrum conflicts occurred in the past four years because agencies weren’t working together.

Commissioners approved 4-0 an item that moves the agency closer to a 3.45-3.55 GHz 5G auction starting in early October. A notice proposes a standard FCC auction, similar to the C-band auction, rather than one based on sharing and rules similar to those in the citizens broadband radio service band. The draft public notice got several tweaks, as expected, including offering 10 MHz rather than 20 MHz blocks, but keeps larger partial economic area-sized licenses (see 2103150052). Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington concurred on parts of the order because of lingering concerns.

FCC commissioners approved a notice of inquiry 4-0, asking questions about the future of open radio access networks and how they can help make 5G more secure. Officials told us several questions were added, as expected (see 2103160041), including on affordability for low-income and rural consumers and increasing deployments outside the urban core, as suggested by Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel added questions on competition and smaller market players, as suggested in ex parte filings, officials said.

Tech and creative industries universally hailed the Senate's 98-0 confirmation Wednesday of China and trade expert Katherine Tai as U.S. trade representative. Sens. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., didn't vote. Tai inherits the USTR post as three rounds of Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods remain in place at 25% and proposed duties on Vietnamese imports are still on the table from the Trump administration’s Section 301 investigation into Hanoi’s alleged currency manipulation.

Consumer technology shipments showed some resiliency amid large-scale disruption to production lines and supply chains caused by the COVID-19 pandemic last year, said ABI Research Wednesday. Shipments will “gradually recover in 2021 as the impact of the pandemic starts to wane, consumer confidence returns, and device supply chains bounce back to near-pre-COVID levels,” said analyst Khin Sandi Lynn.