LAS VEGAS -- The big picture for the chip supply chain is expected to improve midyear, but ProSource dealers are battling major shortages, we heard at the ProSource Summit here this week. Some have lost projects, and all have had to come up with workarounds to get product they need, often not the product originally specified.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the punitive sanctions levied against Moscow will drive a “steep decline” in information and communications tech spending in both those countries, followed by “slow recovery” in both those countries, reported IDC Monday in a “first take” analysis on how the crisis likely will weigh on the global tech sector. But it's predicting the worldwide impact on ICT spending “will be somewhat limited” for now, it said.

Virtual MVPD fuboTV is experimenting with interactivity, said CEO David Gandler on a BMO Digital Advertising Summit webcast. As consumers interact with fuboTV programming, they will be able to respond to calls to action, he said Wednesday. He envisioned viewers watching a high-profile game and having a Buffalo Wild Wings ad appear with a clickable “Buy” button that pulls down a menu for order placement. The process would be facilitated by customer information on file: “We know your address,” he said.

LAS VEGAS -- ProSource volume grew 24% year on year in 2021, and volume rebate transactions were up 51%, said Vice President-Business Development Andy Orozco, opening the group’s spring Summit Sunday. The growth in volume rebate dollars “means we're growing our business with our vendor partners," he said.

A federal court said it’s precluded by the Tax Injunction Act (TIA) from reviewing Maryland’s digital ad tax. But U.S. District Court in Baltimore may review a challenge to an amendment to the Maryland Digital Ad Tax Act (Data) that prohibited companies from passing the tax’s cost onto consumers, said Judge Lydia Griggsby in a Friday order in case 21-cv-00410-LKG. Plaintiffs indicated they will fight on.

Congress and the FCC “need to make permanent a lot of the regulatory relief” and waivers that “enabled a real spike in telehealth usage,” said Commissioner Brendan Carr during a virtual symposium Thursday recognizing broadband access, adoption and use as a social determinant of health. The FCC has “got to make sure that we get affordable internet connections to every community,” Carr said.

Vizio returned to “aggressive promotions” last month after shipping 700,000 fewer TVs in Q4 than a year earlier, said Chief Financial Officer Adam Townsend on the company’s Thursday earnings call. The company shipped 1.5 million TVs in Q4, down from 2.2 million in the 2020 quarter. Device revenue dropped 22% year on year to $523.7 million, it said. Total revenue fell 14% to $628.8 million. For the year, revenue grew 4% to $2.1 billion, said the company.Shares plunged 16.3% Friday, closing at $11.08.

Utah could be the fourth state with a comprehensive privacy law. The Senate voted 25-0 Thursday to concur with House amendments to SB-227. In Connecticut, a privacy bill (SB-6) got thumbs up from Microsoft, Consumer Reports and the state attorney general’s office at a livestreamed hearing Thursday. Comcast and TechNet said the bill would be mostly interoperable with other state laws, but suggested some edits.

Best Buy's Q4 fiscal 2022 comparable sales slipped 2.3%, with revenue dropping more than expected to $16.4 billion for the quarter ended Jan. 29, the company said Thursday. On an earnings call, CEO Corie Barry cited more constrained inventory than forecast, “including some high-demand holiday items,” and reduced store hours due to the COVID-19 omicron variant.

AMC Entertainment CEO Adam Aron opposes the “conventional wisdom” that movie theaters “cannot coexist and cannot thrive in a world of streaming,” he said on a Q4 earnings call Tuesday. “In a world where the consumer’s appetite for content is so voracious that it seems to be sufficient to let us all prosper,” movie theaters “have a very bright future,” he said.