EchoStar will become a shareholder in SmarDTV, a subsidiary of Kudelski Group that offers advanced set-top boxes and conditional access modules, EchoStar said in a news release Tuesday. EchoStar's operations in Steeton, U.K., and Madrid, Spain, will be transferred to SmarDTV, it said. SmarDTV will facilitate joint commercial activities and deliver consumer devices to TV broadcasting and broadband markets, it said. The devices, including conditional access modules, gateways and set-top boxes, will use Kudelski technologies for security, middleware and user experience, it said.

TiVo joined the Association of National Advertisers' (ANA) Alliance for Family Entertainment, TiVo said in a news release Tuesday. It's the first technology company to become a member of ANA's national family brand marketers, TiVo said.

Rovi inked an IP-based licensing deal with Bell Mobility for the carrier's mobile TV service in Canada, the vendor said in a Tuesday news release. “Home entertainment is inevitably moving from the TV set in the living room to multiple screens and mobile devices,” said Samir Armaly, Rovi executive vice president-intellectual property and licensing. Through Rovi guide technology, Bell Mobility customers will have access to an integrated TV programming guide that enables them to see what’s playing “now and later,” Rovi said.

Skullcandy spent more than $1.1 million on air freight in Q4 to circumvent the West Coast ports slowdown and deliver headphones and other consumer products to retail for the crucial holiday selling season, Chief Financial Officer Jason Hodell said Thursday on an earnings call. For Q4, the company also estimates it had about $3 million worth of inventory sitting “unfortunately idle” at the port of Seattle while the labor slowdowns continued, Hodell said. “Without the port slowdown, this inventory would likely have been consumed in Q4,” he said. Because the West Coast ports crisis wasn’t resolved until the breakthrough in contract negotiations late February and backlogs were expected to continue for weeks thereafter (see 1502230029), Skullcandy anticipates incurring additional air freight costs that will reduce earnings per share by at least a penny when it reports Q1 results, he said. But "this is a short-term issue,” he said. Skullcandy did $4.4 million in sales through RadioShack in last year’s Q1, but those sales will disappear in Q1 this year following RadioShack’s Feb. 5 bankruptcy filing (see 1502060023), Hodell said. Skullcandy CEO Hoby Darling said Skullcandy worked “closely” with the chain in the months leading up to the bankruptcy filing “to maximize sellthrough by entering into consignment arrangements to protect ourselves while getting product to our consumers through RadioShack.” Skullcandy wasn't on RadioShack's list of top 50 creditors in its Chapter 11 filing, nor generally were other CE vendors, except for Panasonic, Toshiba America Information Systems and Wilson Electronics. “Based on conversations with RadioShack and through monitoring the news flow, we have significantly planned our business down with them for 2015," Darling said. "This is a significant headwind as we did over $14 million of good-gross-margin business with RadioShack last year.” Skullcandy thinks it will be able to “capture a good portion of these lost sales through additional volumes at existing retail partners and by selectively opening new accounts” that serve similar demographics and “geographies,” he said. “However, regaining these sales will likely take beyond 2015 to fully accomplish,” he said.

Pioneer completed the corporate downsizing it started in mid-September, the company said Friday. It revised its head-count reduction in Japan to 700 jobs cut, from 800 in the earlier announcement. Pioneer has said the downsizing also would include the elimination of 700 jobs overseas.

GE Lighting is promoting a two-bulb LED solution for National Sleep Awareness Week that’s designed to counteract the effects of blue light from electronic device screens that interfere with the natural sleep cycle. GE said Thursday that its Align PM bulb controls the blue concentration of light output from computer, smartphone and tablet screens. “Light impacts not only our mood and wellness, but our ability to fall asleep,” said Gary Allen, physicist, GE Lighting. By changing the timing, amount and spectral quality of light exposure, “we can avoid disrupting the body’s natural circadian rhythms,” Allen said. When the amount of blue light emitted is reduced, the bulb’s PM setting “doesn’t impede the body’s production of melatonin and promotes its natural sleep cycle,” the company said. The company recommends using the extra-warm color temperature for 30 minutes before bedtime and then to use a different bulb with opposite light characteristics that puts off a concentrated bluish-white light for 30 minutes after waking. By tuning the spectrum of light, GE Align AM bulbs mimic daylight and suppress the body’s production of melatonin, GE said. The AM setting uses 11 watts to put out 900 lumens per hour, and the PM setting uses 7 watts for 350 lumens per hour, GE said. The bulbs sell for roughly $31 and $32 at Amazon. On our question whether GE is working on a controllable single-bulb solution that can be used for both AM and PM settings, the separate AM and PM bulbs "are the first iteration of this technology to help us gather consumer feedback on if there's demand for a single bulb to do both," a GE spokeswoman told us Thursday.

Bang & Olufsen opened a new “sensory showroom” in Vancouver’s Gastown District as a store-in-a-store venture with AV specialty retailer Hi-Fi Centre, the supplier said Thursday. The showroom is B&O’s second retail location in Vancouver and the first in Canada to introduce the company’s newly redesigned retail concept store, it said.

Barnes & Noble will separate its educational operation and its retail and Nook business into two independent, publicly traded companies, the company said Thursday. The separation, which is expected to be completed by the end of August, “will allow each business to optimize its strategic opportunities,” the company said in a statement. “As more focused companies with differing potential growth profiles, capital needs and market dynamics, each company will benefit from strategic clarity and separate management and Board focus. The separation will also allow investors to assess each business more clearly as a stand-alone company.” Through the separation, the company also will be able “to better capitalize on improving industry trends and merchandising initiatives” within its core retail business, it said. The Retail and Nook businesses “will be able to leverage a more integrated technology infrastructure for improved efficiency and to better serve digital customers,” it said.

Pioneer’s operating profit declined 39.6 percent for Q3 ended Dec. 31 to $14.5 million ($1 = 115 yen) despite an 8 percent sales increase to $1.19 billion, the company said Monday. Pioneer blamed the profit decrease on higher selling, general and administrative expenses and a “deterioration in the cost of sales ratio,” resulting mainly from the negative effects of the weaker yen. Car electronics sales grew 7.1 percent in Q3 to $803 million despite a decline in car navigation system sales, Pioneer said. Although aftermarket sales of car navigation products rose in North America and Europe, a shift to lower-priced models led to a decline in the Japanese market, resulting in the overall decline, it said. OEM car navigation sales declined in Japan, but rose in China and North America, resulting in an overall OEM car navigation sales increase. Overall car audio product sales rose, Pioneer said. Aftermarket car audio sales declined in Europe but grew in other areas, particularly the Middle East and Central and South America, and resulted in a net aftermarket car audio sales increase. OEM car audio sales declined in China but rose in North America and Southeast Asia, for a net OEM car audio category increase. Total OEM sales accounted for 56 percent of total car electronics sales, vs. 54 percent a year earlier. Home electronics sales grew 12.6 percent $298.1 million, mainly on higher sales of optical drive-based cable set-top boxes. For its fiscal year ending March 31, Pioneer left unchanged its November forecast for a 3.4 percent sales increase and an 11.9 percent increase in its operating profit from a year earlier. The forecasts assume Pioneer will post a sales increase in aftermarket car audio products “through introduction of new products in emerging markets and North America,” the company said.

Panasonic’s global TV business sales declined 7 percent in Q3 ended Dec. 31 to $1.29 billion ($1 = 115 yen), the company said Tuesday. The downturn forced the sector to take a $47 million operating loss vs. a nominal operating profit in the year-ago quarter. Although “high value-added” products like 4K TVs were launched in October, profitability in the TV sector suffered from severe price competition and a weaker yen, Panasonic said. The company said it expects “the difficult market environment to continue and puts priority on profitability rather than seeking increased revenues.”