With Las Vegas so “dependent” on group and convention business, Rob Goldstein, Las Vegas Sands chief operating officer, sees “nothing that indicates” the business will “return at all” to the city this year, he said on a Q2 investor call Wednesday. “Las Vegas cannot perform without return of these segments. It cannot make money with limited hotel occupancy.” Even with the recent reopenings of the Venetian and Palazzo, “we’re running a regional casino” destination that’s “predicated” on customers driving in from other locales, he said. "Airlift" traffic through McCarran airport is only about 40% of its pre-COVID-19 volume, he said. “I don’t have a crystal ball into 2021,” said Goldstein. “I remain pessimistic" about the group and convention business for next year, he said. The “slowest return” will be the “large-deal group business” because it's “more tech-driven, and those people are more reluctant to travel,” he said. Goldstein doesn’t want to “predict 2021 because I don't feel I have enough insight into what might happen to the vaccine or the virus,” he said. “But I would be less than honest if I didn't tell you that Las Vegas is in a very difficult place." The city is "struggling here," said the COO. "It's painful, and I think it remains painful for the immediate future.” The stock closed 4.2% lower Thursday at $44.88. CES 2021 is scheduled Jan. 6-9 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

After delays caused by the COVID-19 outbreak and “demand volatility,” LG Display announced Wednesday the start of mass production at its Gen 8.5 OLED panel fab in Guangzhou, China. LG has been sending 900 “core engineers” by chartered flights to Guangzhou since March, it said. Plant capacity is 60,000 sheets per month, supplementing the company’s 70,000-sheet capacity at its OLED panel plant in Paju, South Korea. LGD Q2 revenue increased 12% from Q1 on spiking laptop, tablet and desktop monitor panel sales amid COVID-19 demand for telework and remote-learning connectivity tools, said the company Thursday.

More than half of U.S. broadband households would share smartphone data to aid contact tracing; 20% could be convinced with privacy protections, said Parks Associates Thursday. Respondents who experienced COVID-19 symptoms are more willing to share the data, and nearly half without symptoms would share. Apple and Google jointly developed an application programming interface and framework that developers, in partnership with public health stakeholders, can use to build contact-tracing apps, noted analyst Kristen Hanich. “The industry can drive widespread uptake of these solutions by emphasizing the public benefits of this data sharing while also stressing the privacy protections.” Parks reported use of telehealth tripled year over year, with 41% of broadband households using one in the past 12 months due to inability or unwillingness to have an in-person doctor visit. Despite the “dramatic switch,” if patients have a good experience, the market is “likely to see continued usage on a permanent basis.”

Theater closings created a “real problem” for the movie industry’s formula for blockbusters and “how we consume video” overall, said Brett Sappington, Interpret vice president, on a Brightcove webinar Thursday. Citing studios’ long-term schedules, Sappington said “they plan years in advance for the exact weekend whenever they’re going to release something" to ensure the schedule doesn’t hit another big release: March-July since lockdowns “really screwed up calendars for not just now, but on into the future.” Streaming successes while theaters have been dark prompted “good discussions on premium video,” said Brightcove analyst Jim O’Neill. Streaming was up 40% in Q2, said O’Neill, noting Netflix added 26 million subscribers in two quarters. Disney had more than a 70% subscriber spike after Hamilton’s release July 3, and Universal’s Trolls World Tour took in $100 million from streaming revenue in Q1: Both had been planned for theatrical release, he noted. Studios are delaying some big-budget releases as theater reopenings stretch out. O’Neill cited AT&T CEO John Stankey’s comments (see 007230052), saying it's inevitable that some Warner Bros. movies that were slated for theatrical release this year would move to streaming platforms. Tenet, which cost $200 million and has been pulled for now, won't go to streaming first. On whether digital distribution could eventually replace movie theaters, Sappington noted that being in a theater with “bunches of other people … feels unsafe to me." Though Sappington is certain it will be safe again to return to theaters, he also said unknowns remain.

The FCC Wireless Bureau approved applications by Windstream and Leon County, Texas, for historic review of wireless facilities during the pandemic (see here and here).

Best Buy’s announcement Tuesday of a 2.5% sales increase for Q2 through Saturday (see 2007210062) showed the retailer’s “agility and tenacity” during a “difficult environment,” Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter wrote investors Wednesday. Shares reached a 52-week high Wednesday, closing 7.8% higher at $97.36. Best Buy likely benefited from the temporary or permanent shuttering of smaller brick-and-mortar competitors during the pandemic, but stimulus benefits for those receiving unemployment will soon end, “and a recession is likely to follow,” said Pachter. Best Buy said Tuesday online sales were up 255% quarter-to-date, and sales increased 15% since stores began reopening June 15. That showed customers "are gaining comfort with online purchasing while remaining loyal to the store,” it said. Temporary incremental unemployment benefits boosted Q2 sales, plus persistently strong connectivity products needed for remote work and school. Growth in computing and tablets is likely to continue as people continue to work from home and students prepare to do more schoolwork from home starting in the fall, Pachter said: “Aa looming recession and high unemployment rates could significantly impact Best Buy’s sales, as finances for Best Buy’s core consumer come under increasing pressure by October.” Best Buy's Q2 ends Aug. 1. It reports Aug. 26.

COVID-19 uncertainties caused a “sharp decline” in global flat-panel TV shipments in Q1, reported ABI Research Wednesday. It forecasts 222 million unit shipments in 2020, down 3% from 2019. Stay-at-home orders and the pandemic's “economic upheaval” are bringing lower consumer spending on more discretionary consumer tech gear, it said. Conditions are likely to speed a decline in TV prices, said analyst Khin Sandi Lynn. Video streaming services’ popularity during lockdown caused a 4 million unit bump in streaming media adapter shipments year on year, said the analyst. Streaming media device and service growth is expected to continue beyond the pandemic. ABI expects the global flat-panel TV market to rebound in 2021, growing at a 4.3 compound annual growth rate to 275 million units in 2025.

Though Texas Instruments Q2 revenue of $3.2 billion was down 12% from a year earlier, it wasn't "the depth of the decline we saw in the 2008 financial crisis,” said Dave Pahl, head of investor relations, on a Tuesday evening earnings call. “We remain cautious on how the economy might behave over the next few years.” The main “weakness” was in automotive, down about 40% sequentially and from a year earlier, he said. “Excluding automotive, TI was up 8% sequentially and down 3% versus a year ago. The automotive market appears to have bottomed in May as North American and European assembly plants resumed operations.” TI’s personal electronics business was up more than 20% from Q1 and about 10% higher than the 2019 quarter, he said. “This can best be explained by work-from-home trends and TI being in a position to support unforecasted demand in the quarter.” Short lead times and high availability “are important capabilities that allow us to continue to support customers' near-term and unforecasted demand,” said Chief Financial Officer Rafael Lizardi. “Our product portfolio of mostly long-lived parts affords us to have a steady hand and therefore, we will take a similar approach to our factory operating plan again in third quarter.”

Republican lawmakers urged the White House to do more to sanction China-backed cyberattackers who steal U.S. intellectual property. Reps. Michael McCaul, Texas; Greg Walden, Ore.; and Patrick McHenry, N.C., said Chinese hackers are more frequently targeting U.S. agencies to try to steal information and public health data on COVID-19 vaccines and treatments. The lawmakers said the Treasury Department has “not sufficiently imposed” sanctions. The White House didn't comment Wednesday on Monday's letter.

Post-COVID-19 telework will spur a 22% decline in “office-based working environments,” reported Strategy Analytics Wednesday. It predicts people working from home long term could increase by up to 300% from pre-pandemic levels. That shift “would have major implications for transport and other sectors, with billions of commuting journeys eliminated every year,” said SA. It canvassed 9,000 people online in the U.S., Germany and U.K., March-May, and classified employees into: (1) “City escapees” are 24% of employees and want to work from home forever; (2) “Family jugglers” are 30%, “less keen” on telework; (3) “Struggling commuters,” 37%, in lower-income brackets and unlikely to work from home; (4) “Teleworking lifers,” 9%. “Many employers are reviewing their WFH policies but the research makes it clear that a significant proportion of employees, particularly those previously based in offices, would be happy to continue working from home permanently,” said SA.