U.S. home entertainment spending via digital transactions, including electronic sell-through, VOD and subscription streaming, jumped 24.2% in Q1 to $5.98 billion, reported the Digital Entertainment Group Wednesday. There was a 48% March increase in digital spending to $596 million, the highest monthly revenue. “Entertainment-hungry consumers sheltering at home during the COVID-19 pandemic” fueled the increase, it said. “Stay at home orders rolled out across the U.S. beginning in mid-March, though some consumers had started to limit social activity even earlier.” Total U.S. home entertainment spending jumped 15% to $6.94 billion. Physical media sell-through continued to suffer, declining 22.4% to $637.8 million.

North Carolina will provide $21 million for internet connectivity through a COVID-19 relief bill signed by Gov. Roy Cooper (D), the governor’s office said. Also Monday, Minnesota state senators voted 66-0 to pass SF-4494 allocating $8 million for student connectivity, $2 million for telehealth and $10 million for broadband in unserved areas (see 2005010035).

Dolby is bracing for Q3 unit shipments 15-25% lower than previous models, said Chief Financial Officer Lewis Chew on the company’s Monday fiscal Q2 earnings call. For the June quarter, Dolby projects revenue of $225 million-$250 million; it expects most global cinemas to remain closed through the end of June. Revenue for fiscal Q2 ended March 27 was $352 million vs. $338 million in the year-ago quarter, below analysts’ consensus expectations of $361.4 million and Dolby’s $370 million-$390 million guidance. Management cited a lack of visibility into Q4. It will be looking at indicators such as how consumer spending rebounds, the rate of consumers’ return to the cinema and “what social distancing restrictions they might be under,” said CEO Kevin Yeaman. The company extended Dolby Vision technology to the iPhone SE and to Showtime and CBS streaming content, Dougherty & Co. analyst Steven Frankel wrote investors Tuesday. The stock closed down 5.8% at $55.15.

California Assembly members weighed telecom and privacy bills responding to COVID-19 at Tuesday hearings. The Communications and Conveyance Committee cleared an anti-robocalls bill (AB-3007) brought to the legislature by Consumer Reports. It’s even more important now, with more telemarketing robocalls about COVID-19, and with rising unemployment increasing the need for protections from debt-collection robocalls, said CR Policy Analyst Maureen Mahoney. CTIA and the California Cable & Telecommunications Association representatives supported the robocalls bill after it was amended to remove a section requiring companies to provide call mitigation technology. The communications panel voted 9-0 for a California LifeLine bill (AB-3079) meant to increase participation and reduce administrative barriers in the low-income subsidy program. Assembly sponsor Eduardo Garcia (D) said participation increased about 10% during COVID-19 but the program remains underutilized. Assemblymember Jay Obernolte (R) opposed using surcharges paid only by phone companies for broadband. He said the legislature itself should decide whether to expand the program rather than punt the decision to the CPUC. The panel unanimously cleared AB-2189 to authorize small independent telcos to request rate cases at the California Public Utilities Commission through advice letters, a process that would be faster than a formal rate case. The Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee will prioritize privacy bills that respond to the coronavirus, said Chairman Ed Chau (D) at the panel’s separate hearing. The panel voted 10-0 for AB-2004 by Majority Leader Ian Calderon (D) to allow blockchain for securely sending medical test results to patients. No members opposed AB-3116 by Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin (D) to clarify bike-share trip location data is protected under the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act. Other bills included AB-2261 by Chau to make rules for public and private usage of facial recognition technology, including an opt-in requirement for entering or disclosing an individual’s facial information; and AB-2320 by Chau to require state contractors maintain cyber insurance to cover losses from possible unlawful access to or disclosure of personal information. Chau and many other committee members wore masks and spoke into a bagged mic, though three Republican members didn’t wear masks. Californians for Consumer Privacy said Monday it submitted more than 900,000 signatures for a ballot initiative to tighten the California Consumer Privacy Act (see 1912180012). That’s about 280,000 more than needed to get on 2020’s ballot, though signatures must be verified. The initiative’s author sponsored the 2018 ballot initiative that led to the legislature quickly passing CCPA.

Apple scheduled its Worldwide Developers Conference, for the first time virtually, starting June 22, it said Tuesday. It's expected to reach 23 million developers. In March, the company made the change due to COVID-19.

NARUC is considering a partly or fully virtual summer meeting, though it could still happen in person in Boston, emailed Senior Director-Meetings and Member Services Michelle Malloy via a spokesperson Tuesday. “NARUC would, ideally, like to see all attendees in person” at the July 19-22 meeting, but travel restrictions, health and safety concerns and budgets may keep people from attending, she said. NARUC is weighing “all available options,” including “a hybrid meeting (on site and virtual), onsite, and a fully virtual conference,” she said. NARUC surveyed possible attendees Tuesday on whether the coronavirus might affect their ability to go and if they had ever attended a virtual conference. “Getting input from people across the utility spectrum (including those who have never attended a NARUC meeting) will help guide our decision-making process," said Malloy. "We want to use a format that best serves the safety and interests of everyone.”

Disney estimates it took a $1.4 billion hit from COVID-19 in Q2 ended March 28 through the closure of its theme parks, cruise lines, retail stores and studio operations, plus the lack of live sports on ESPN, said senior executives on a Tuesday call. The pandemic’s “widespread disruptions” sent earnings plunging to 60 cents a share from $1.61 in Q2 a year earlier, said CEO Bob Chapek, his first call since being named in February to succeed Bob Iger. The response to Disney+ “has exceeded even our highest expectations,” said Chapek. Disney+ had 33.5 million subscribers, 26% more than the 26.5 million it had at the Dec. 28 close of Q1. The service launched in mid-November and passed 50 million subscribers in early April after the launch of the service in Western Europe and India. Disney+ surpassed 54.5 million subscribers through the close of business Monday, said Chief Financial Officer Christine McCarthy. Disney’s direct-to-consumer business had an $812 million operating loss on revenue of $4.1 billion, including Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu. The segment had a $385 million operating loss Q2 a year earlier. Chapek and McCarthy sidestepped questions about whether the faster-than-expected growth of Disney+ means the service can achieve profitability sooner than previously planned.

Broadcasters and MVPDs won’t need to follow broad equal employment opportunity recruitment rules when rehiring employees released due the COVID-19 pandemic, said an FCC Media Bureau order Monday. “The Bureau finds good cause to waive this requirement to allow affected broadcast licensees and MVPDs to return operations to full strength once circumstances permit the re-hiring of released employees.” The requirement is waived only for rehiring full-time employees within nine months of their release who were laid off due to the pandemic. “Facilitating the expeditious re-hiring of full-time employees laid off as a result of the pandemic to job vacancies created by the pandemic” is in the public interest, the order said. The waiver isn’t necessarily a big shift, blogged Pillsbury Winthrop broadcast attorney Scott Flick: The FCC has “long recognized a narrow exception to its broad recruitment requirement where a hire occurs under ‘exigent circumstances’,” and that would likely apply to such rehires. The waiver will help stations avoid needing to prove in future EEO reviews that exigent circumstances existed, he said.

Global information technology spending is now expected to decline 5.1% this year to $2.25 trillion, “as the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to drive down some categories of tech spending and short-term business investments,” said IDC Monday. Its February forecast before the pandemic hit was for IT spending to increase 4.3%. “Inevitably a major economic recession, in Q2 especially, will translate into some big short-term reductions in IT spending by those companies and industries that are directly impacted," said IDC.

Michael Webber, the CES 2020 show-goer who tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies (see 2004240041), thinks it’s “likely” he caught the coronavirus or helped spread it at the Las Vegas Convention Center, he told us. It was Webber’s “rookie” trip to the event. This won’t dissuade him from attending CES 2021, assuming format changes are made, he said. It’s not the “fault” of organizer CTA that Webber likely got the virus, he said: “There are some people out there suggesting they did something wrong.” CTA and the Southern Nevada Health District said they know of no confirmed cases associated with CES 2020. “I certainly don’t want to get sick again, but I’m not afraid of the risks of life,” Webber said. “Going to CES again certainly is on my mind.” If it’s the “same 170,000 people” crammed into “the same small square footage” as CES 2020, “I would be less interested in going,” he said. CTA recently said CES 2021 will “implement changes to enable social distancing” (see 2004210057). Webber, chief science and technology officer at the French energy company Engie, also is a University of Texas energy sciences professor.