On its patent infringement cases against Google, Sonos Chief Legal Officer Eddie Lazarus said one goes to trial Feb. 22, with a preliminary decision expected in early May. A second case, in U.S. District Court in Waco, Texas, also involves five different patents and is expected to go to a hearing in July to define patent terms; that case is scheduled for trial in June 2022. Sonos believes Google is “infringing a very substantial portion of our patent portfolio," and "we're going to continue with this process until we vindicate our [intellectual property] rights," Lazarus, a former top FCC official, told a quarterly call. (See Q1 materials here). A Google spokesperson said “Sonos has misrepresented our partnership and mischaracterized our technology. Our products and devices were designed independently. While we look to resolve our dispute, we will continue to ensure our shared customers have the best experience using our products.” Sonos stock closed up 16% at $36.44. Meanwhile, Sonos is working to ramp up to meet demand while the company transitions to manufacturing in Malaysia. That's where iRobot also is boosting capacity.
Encore Drive-In Nights and MetaMedia partnered to offer livestreamed concerts, sports and other events at drive-in venues across North America, they said Wednesday. Encore's network of “hundreds” of outdoor venues targets fans not traditionally reached by touring routes. June-September, Encore events played to more than 900,000 fans with concert films from Metallica, Garth Brooks, Kane Brown and Blake Shelton, it said. Encore also showed its first livestreamed event last month, an Ultimate Fighting Championship match between Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor.
Fuse Media's carriage complaint against AT&T was dismissed, per Fuse's request (see 2102040050), the FCC Media Bureau said in a docket 20-426 order Wednesday. Fuse dismissed (in Pacer, docket 20-51049) a related breach of contract complaint against AT&T in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware, last week (see 2012160050).
DTS rebranded its Connected Radio as DTS AutoStage for automotive infotainment systems. This was due partly to DTS owner Xperi's combining with TiVo in June, said DTS Tuesday.
Cox Media Group was the broadcaster whose retransmission consent agreement with AT&T ended a carriage blackout (see 2102080004).
Fox reported fiscal Q2 profit of $230 million vs. $314 million from the year-ago quarter, though revenue increased 8% to $4.09 billion. Fox's quarter ended Dec. 31. That increase was “driven by revenue growth at the Television and Cable Network Programming segments,” Fox said Tuesday. Fox TV Stations, Fox News Media and Tubi “experienced record highs in the December quarter, led by an unprecedented political advertising cycle,” digital growth and new advertisers at Tubi, said CEO Lachlan Murdoch. “We are looking forward to a return to normal entertainment and sports production schedules.” Ad revenue increased 14%, “primarily due to record political advertising revenues at the FOX Television Stations, continued linear and digital growth at FOX News Media and the impact of the consolidation of Tubi,” the company said. Fox had a 14% decrease in some other revenue, “primarily due to lower sports sublicensing revenues at the Cable Network Programming segment as a result of cancelled college football games” due to COVID-19, the release said. The pandemic “resulted in widespread and continuing negative impacts on the macroeconomic environment and disruption to the Company’s business,” it said. The stock closed down 6% to $30.73.
Dish Network and Fort Myers Broadcasting (FMB) blamed each other for a blackout of WINK-TV Fort Myers, Florida, which started Saturday on the Dish lineup. Dish said it made "a fair offer" and FMB "is using our customers as bargaining chips." FMB said the two have been in talks since November, and the broadcaster's proposals "are the same or similar as what have been agreed to by all of DISH’s cable and satellite competitors."
A blackout of Cox Media Group stations in 20 markets on AT&T's DirecTV (see 2102030005) ended Sunday with the announced signing of a multiyear retransmission consent agreement. (Editor's note: An earlier version of this report incorrectly identified the broadcaster.)
Maryland legislators plan to consider an exemption for news media from a proposed digital ad tax if it becomes law. The Senate Budget and Taxation Committee scheduled a hearing Feb. 17 at 1 p.m. on SB-787, introduced Friday by Sen. Bill Ferguson (D). Del. Eric Luedtke (D) introduced companion HB-1200 Monday. The exemption would address the state press association’s concerns about the digital tax bill, said Rebecca Snyder, Maryland, Delaware and District of Columbia Press Association executive director. Gov. Larry Hogan (R) vetoed the tax bill passed in March (see 2003180047). Snyder expects the House to vote this week on overriding it, she said.
Walmart bought advertising technology firm Thunder Industries and is developing a display self-serve platform for suppliers, Janey Whiteside, the retailer's chief customer officer, blogged Thursday.