Disney’s linear networks are “huge cash generators for us,” said CEO Bob Chapek, responding to a question on a fiscal Q2 earnings call Wednesday about what’s holding him back from converting ESPN to a streaming-only service. The U.S. launch of the Disney+ ad-supported subscription tier (see 2203040042) is on track for later in calendar 2022, he said.
“Macro conditions” including COVID-19 and the “geopolitical tensions in Europe” sent Q1 revenue at Vuzix plunging 36%, as billing fell “short of expectations,” said CEO Paul Travers on an earnings call Tuesday. “We consider these results to be anomalous and largely associated with timing delays of customer rollouts and the general world market conditions,” he said. The supplier of smart glasses and augmented-reality hardware sees the AR industry “at its early beginnings,” so sales and profits are “difficult to predict month to month and even quarter to quarter,” he said. But global adoption of AR and smart glasses "is gaining momentum and by most accounts unstoppable,” he said.
GlobalFoundries thinks some segments of the consumer tech market are “normalizing” after historically high spikes in demand during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially low-end smartphones and PCs, said CEO Tom Caulfield on a Q1 earnings call Tuesday. “Neither of these markets are areas of strategic focus for GF, with the exception of a few applications in these end markets that require unique and differentiated technology,” he said.
Complainant Broadband iTV opposes the cable companies’ request for the International Trade Commission to launch a Tariff Act Section 337 patent investigation through the commission’s 100-day early disposition program because that would “prejudice” BBiTV's case, said its response posted Tuesday in docket 337-3616. Altice, Comcast and Charter told the ITC they seek rapid adjudication to determine if BBiTV satisfies the domestic industry requirement of its patent infringement complaint, noting BBiTV bases its entire domestic-industry claims on investments that licensee Dish Network made over a three-week period in December (see 2205100031). That a domestic industry exists “cannot be seriously contested,” responded BBiTV. Dish’s “domestic expenditures” to provide its pay TV service “are made almost entirely to support the products that form the basis of a domestic industry in this investigation,” it said. “Both the facts and the law weigh against the use of the early disposition program for this investigation,” it said. BBiTV alleges set-tops from Altice, Comcast and Charter infringe four patents on VOD and electronic program guide technologies, and it seeks cease and desist and limited exclusion orders against the infringing devices.
Pixelworks is trying its best to navigate through the COVID-19 lockdowns affecting its Shanghai subsidiary, said CEO Todd DeBonis on a Q1 earnings call Tuesday. The company markets visual processors to Chinese smartphone OEMs. “We have offices located in multiple provinces, and our China-based employees are not exclusively in Shanghai,” he said. “The imposed restrictions often vary by specific region. Therefore, any potential impacts are not universal.” The Pixelworks “operations team and supply chain partners” are in Taiwan, “and as of today, there has been no associated impact on our ability to fulfill planned shipments to our customers,” he said. “Having said that, the reported lockdowns have presented temporary challenges for a certain number of our employees.” The company’s office in Shanghai's Pudong district “is working with local officials to reopen over the next couple of weeks,” he said. Despite the lockdowns, “we have sustained all operational and R&D activities,” said the CEO.
The U.S. “tariff war” on China does "nobody" any good, and “it’s time for the U.S. administration to reconsider and to cancel it as early as possible,” said a Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Wednesday when asked at his regular news conference to comment on President Joe Biden’s remarks that the White House was “discussing” the Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports in the context of curbing inflation. “We're looking at what would have the most positive impact,” Biden told reporters Tuesday. “No decision has been made on it.” “Tariffs imposed unilaterally by the U.S. on China are not in the interest of China, the U.S. or the whole world,” said the spokesperson.
Sony shipped 1.6 million TVs in its fiscal Q4 ended March 31, finishing the year with 8.5 million sets sold, reported the company Tuesday. Year-over-year unit shipments were down 20% for the quarter and 9% for the year, yet revenue for the year in the core consumer tech segment, Electronics Products and Services, increased 13% to 271.1 billion yen ($2.08 billion), “due to an improvement in the product mix,” said Sony.
AMC Entertainment won’t stop trying to "convince" some of the major streaming services to introduce their movies theatrically, said CEO Adam Aron on a Q1 earnings call Monday. “We have had conversations over the years with Netflix, Amazon and Apple,” he said. “We continue to make it very clear that we would be very pleased to show some of their bigger, better movies. But in doing so, we have to respect our long-standing industry partners, the major studios. We can't have one set of rules for the major studios and a separate set of rules for streamers.” The $187.4 million domestic opening last weekend of Disney's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is proof “all those who doubted the consumer appeal of movie theaters” were wrong, said Aron. “We can say to our shareholders with some glee and delight that the resilience of movie theaters is right now on clear display and that the future of the cinema is bright,” he said. Some on Wall Street and in the media “have been filling our heads for two years now about the rise of streaming and the corresponding end of theaters,” he said. “This won't be the first time or the last time that conventional wisdom will be proven to be filled with so much folly.”
If the International Trade Commission opens a Tariff Act Section 337 investigation into Broadband iTV (BBiTV) allegations against Altice, Comcast and Charter, the cable companies want the ITC to use its 100-day early disposition program to determine if BBiTV satisfies the domestic industry requirement of its patent infringement complaint, they said in a filing posted Monday in docket 337-3616. BBiTV alleges set-tops from the three companies infringe four patents on VOD and electronic program guide technologies, and seeks cease and desist and limited exclusion orders against the infringing devices (see 2204280027). An ITC Section 337 complainant must show that a domestic industry exists for its asserted patents or is in the process of being established. “BBiTV does not contribute to any domestic industry in the asserted patents,” but instead relies entirely on investments made by third-party licensee Dish Network, and only between Dec. 10 and Dec. 31, “to support its allegations of a domestic industry,” said the cable companies. ITC case law shows “abbreviated” license periods call into doubt the “sufficiency” of domestic law allegations, they said. BBiTV is “a non-practicing entity that does not make any products on its own,” but rather sues other companies “to extract settlement licenses,” they said. Dish “only recently executed its license to the asserted patents to resolve litigation brought against it by BBiTV,” they said. BBiTV didn’t comment Tuesday, nor did Dish, which isn't a party to BBiTV’s complaint.
With Dish Network’s "spectrum portfolio" and “our rural roots,” there’s “certainly an opportunity” for the company to play in “fixed wireless in rural America,” said Chairman Charlie Ergen on a Q1 earnings call Friday. “We’re watching closely what T-Mobile and Verizon are doing,” he said. “I think it’s very creative in terms of what they’re doing. I think there’s maybe other ways to do it, depending on where you are and the densities you have.” Dish thinks the 12 GHz band, flexible use of which is being considered in an FCC rulemaking, is “the ideal frequency” for fixed wireless, said Ergen. “We’re hopeful the FCC will make some rulings on that,” he said. "In a funny sort of way," there may be more "upside" to fixed wireless than "the belief you have in linear TV," he said. Dish lost about 228,000 satellite TV subscribers in Q1, said CEO Erik Carlson on the call. "We still remain focused on acquiring and maintaining long-term, profitable customers, and we continue to play where we're strongest, in rural America, with higher-credit-quality subscribers," he said. Dish has an Analyst Day event scheduled for Tuesday in Las Vegas, its first 5G commercial deployment (see 2205040057).