Acconeer asked the FCC to approve its request for a waiver allowing marketing of its 60 GHz short-range radar system at higher power than specified in agency rules. Acconeer cited support from other commenters in its Monday filing in docket 21-48. The system would be used for passenger detection, seat belt and intruder alarms, and gesture control for vehicle access, the company said.

Vizio shares on their second day regained some of the ground they lost Thursday when they debuted on the New York Stock Exchange. Shares closed 8.4% higher Friday at $20.71, a few cents shy of the initial public offering’s proposed $21 opening. Unlike Thursday, when the stock plunged 17% as trading began midday and never fully recovered (see report in this publication, March 26), shares remained in positive territory throughout Friday.

Despite the pandemic’s “downward pressure” on the industry, TCL revenue grew 40.2% last year to $6.56 billion, said the Hong Kong-based electronics company Thursday. Sales in North American markets grew 25.4% year on year. TV sales exceeded targets, said the company, growing 15.9% to 23.9 million sets. It cited Omdia figures saying TV market share for third-ranked TCL grew 1.5 points to 10.7%. Average screen size of TCL TVs increased by 0.8 inch from 2019 to 45.6 inches, while 65-inch and larger models’ share of the company's sales mix grew a point to 11%. TCL strengthened relationships with Roku and Google globally, and it’s working more closely with Netflix in overseas markets, it said. It’s promoting the TCL Channel to overseas users and is now in 12 countries with plans for further expansion.

Vizio will price its 17.4 million share initial public offering of Class A common stock $21-$23 a share, raising just under $400 million at the high end of the guidance, said the company’s amended S-1 registration statement Tuesday at the SEC. Vizio will use the net proceeds for general corporate purposes, including working capital, operating expenses and capital expenditures, it said. It also will spend $14 million of the proceeds “to satisfy a licensing payment that will become due in connection with this offering,” it said, without disclosing the recipient or the nature of the license. The filing indicated in several places that Vizio plans to complete the IPO in short order. That would be in stark contrast to the IPO it filed for in July 2015 but let gather dust as it negotiated the $3 billion LeEco buyout agreement that later blew up acrimoniously. “We expect to pay up to an aggregate of $12.5 million to the relevant tax authorities in cash shortly after the completion of this offering and in our fiscal quarter ending March 31,” said the filing in one example of its fast-tracking. It also reorganized operations, effective Friday, in preparation for going public, converting its California Vizio parent into a holding company in which all financial results will be consolidated, said the S-1/A. On Monday, it amended its certificate of incorporation to conduct a nine-for-one “forward stock split," increasing the number of authorized shares “proportionally,” it said.

Applications are due May 14 for the Nokia Bell Labs Prize 2021, a “competition for researchers with disruptive innovations that have the potential to change the way we live, work and communicate,” said the company Wednesday. Finalists will be given access to Bell Labs software, hardware and collaborators to bring their ideas closer to commercial fruition, it said. The competition fetches a $100,000 grand prize, plus $50,000 and $25,000 prizes for the second- and third-place finishers, said Nokia. “Up to 25 of the top submissions will be invited to work with Bell Labs researchers to turn their ideas into compelling proposals.”

The Chinese box office came “roaring back,” Colliers analyst Steven Frankel wrote investors Tuesday, noting Imax set records with its best-ever Chinese New Year opening weekend. Imax’s $25 million take was 45% higher than the comparable 2019 weekend, said the company Sunday. Theaters were closed last year due to the coronavirus. Despite 75% capacity limits, China set an all-time record over the weekend, notching $775 million in ticket sales from the first three days of the Chinese New Year holiday period, said Frankel. Detective Chinatown 3 earned $23.5 million gross box office, with Imax earning 6% of the film's box office on 1% of its screens, said the company. Imax credited its “comeback” to its “strategic effort to embrace local language filmmaking, grow its network, and strengthen its brand in China.” The company has grossed $126 million since theaters first reopened in China in July -- with box office up 28% in December and 140% in January, “despite continued capacity limitations across the country and a lack of Hollywood films in the market.” said CEO Rich Gelfond. The record-breaking box office, strong market share, and multiple releases filmed in Imax were important steps in the company’s global “road to recovery," he said. The stock reached a 52-week high early Tuesday, closing the day 6.5% higher at $20.05.

JVC launched the JVC Mobile Entertainment USA Dealer Support group on Facebook Monday. Retailers are being encouraged to share information and offer tech support to each other, said the company. It will post new product information, upcoming trainings and tech tips on the page. It’s an extension of JVC Drive, which was launched two years ago as a private dealer learning management system. To gain admittance to the Facebook group, dealers have to answer questions that will be reviewed by the administrative team, it said.

GoPro is looking to subscriptions from an upcoming app revamp and direct-to-consumer sales to pump up revenue battered in 2020 by COVID-19 as consumers channeled discretionary income into home-based activities. Q4 revenue plunged 32% year on year to $358 million; annual revenue dropped 25% to $892 million, said the company Thursday. It doubled its business on GoPro.com, said CEO Nicholas Woodman. GoPro.com brought in $116 million in the quarter, 33% of revenue, while retail was 67% of sales at $241 million. The company is getting “solid traction” in its e-commerce business in Q1 that’s helping to drive up average selling prices, said Chief Financial Officer Brian McGee. It hopes to expand its subscription base through an app for smartphone users to help them get the most out of their photos and videos, said Woodman. The company will add editing tools “at a steady clip” along with content management features, he said. Subscriptions grew 52% sequentially and 145% year on year. The company is “well-positioned” for a bounce-back post-COVID-19, when “somebody finally goes outside and travels more and is more active,” said Woodman. GoPro found “early success after recently shifting its business model toward a direct-to-consumer strategy,” Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter wrote investors Friday. The direct-to-consumer and subscription strategies give the company a “significantly lower barrier to profitability,” he said: “GoPro is expanding its core user base even as the pandemic has kept many of its traditional core users indoors.” The stock fell 19.1% Friday, closing at $8.38.

Sinclair and Bally’s unveiled a Bally Sports logo Wednesday to go along with 19 renamed regional sports networks that will be officially rebranded under the casino management company’s name over the next few months, part of a 10-year agreement announced in November (see 2011190028). The Bally Sports logo "signifies a new, transformative chapter in the regional sports business and is representative of our cohesive partnership with Bally's," said Steve Rosenberg, Sinclair president-local sports. The rollout of Bally's logo across Sinclair's RSNs is a first step in a “transformational partnership that is going to revolutionize the U.S. sports betting, gaming and media industries,” said Bally's CEO George Papanier. The company will integrate its content, including a fantasy sports platform it's buying from Monkey Knife Fight, into live game day coverage across the RSNs, he said. The Sinclair-owned and operated RSN portfolio will include Bally Sports Arizona and like-named networks covering Detroit, Florida, the Great Lakes, Kansas City, Indiana, the Midwest, New Orleans, the North, Ohio, Oklahoma, San Diego, Southern California, the South, Southeast, Southwest, Sun Belt, West and Wisconsin. Two Sinclair RSNs will be renamed when Prime Ticket becomes Bally Sports SoCal and Sports Time Ohio becomes Bally Sports Great Lakes. Readers of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, in what’s currently Fox Sports Midwest territory, had varying responses to an article reporting the name change. User rwlofton called it “ironic that the Cincinnati Reds will now be televised by Bally Sports Ohio, while Pete Rose is still barred from the Hall of Fame.” Lori.vvs wondered, “Will the partnership between baseball & gambling stop some parents from letting their kids watch baseball?” The reader also mused that a bad call by an umpire will lead to the question: "What Are the Odd's??" Mvassel asked if the Bally’s arrangement will “help contract talks with streaming companies that have dropped FSMW?” Said The Shadow: "Sports presented by gambling interests. What could possibly go wrong?" The deal positions Sinclair to eventually buy up to 30% of Bally’s common stock, pending regulatory approval. Sinclair’s RSN portfolio will receive annual naming rights fees and a percentage of Bally’s Interactive’s marketing spending.

“There’s no return to January of 2020,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told Tuesday's call for the quarter ended Dec. 31. Responding to a question on Microsoft’s expense profile post-COVID-19, Nadella focused on “flexibility” in time and where employees work because “expectations have changed.” That’s an opportunity for Microsoft’s Teams business communication platform, he said: “Work happens before meetings, during meetings, after meetings, and especially in hybrid work, you need that sophisticated set of tools that really track workflow irrespective of who is where,” he said. On Xbox, Microsoft exceeded $5 billion in quarterly revenue, a first, as the Series X and S debut set a record for most devices sold in a launch month. Xbox Live has more than 100 million active monthly users and Game Pass has 18 million subscribers, he said. Xbox hardware revenue grew 86%, driven by the new console launch and lower prices on previous-generation consoles, said Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood. The stronger PC market resulted in overall OEM revenue growth of 1% despite a strong prior year comparable in OEM Pro due to the end of support for Windows 7, said Hood. OEM non-Pro revenue grew 24%, OEM Pro revenue dropped 9%, she said. Quarterly revenue grew 17% to $43.1 billion, said the company. Shares closed at $232.90 Wednesday after hitting a 52-week high of $240.44.