COVID-19 lockdowns, first in China, then California, forced professional audio supplier Millennia Music & Media Systems to delay introducing its high-dynamic range audio technology by about six months to early January, emailed founder John La Grou Sunday. His application for the HDR-A trademark (see 1909150001) sailed through the Patent and Trademark Office in just over seven months, landing a registration certificate April 7. La Grou won’t discuss HDR-A until its formal introduction because he regards it as “stealth technology,” he said. Millennia, based in Diamond Springs, California, has been in lockdown since mid-March, scheduled to reopen Monday, said La Grou. His county’s shelter-in-place order expired Friday for “stage 2" nonessential manufacturing businesses like Millennia, “but getting everyone back to work won't happen until the 18th,” he said. “Sales are currently down around 20-30%.” His company got a Paycheck Protection Program loan under the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, “but will only use about 1/2 of it, the other half will be returned to Treasury,” he said. “It's a timing issue.” A PPP loan converts to a grant after eight weeks if the funds are used toward payroll to bring furloughed employees back to work. The “8-wk shelf life is from date of receipt, NOT the date people return to work,” said La Grou. A “bureaucratic oversight” by the Small Business Administration, he said. “Long term nobody knows” when sales will recover, he said. “We're in the entertainment business (shows, studios, live events, etc.), which are all hit hard by CV19, so we may be in for a long slow period.”

Recent strength in U.S. internet performance will help prepare industry to restart the economy, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr told an online FCBA audience Monday. "We're resilient," Carr said. "We're going to get through this thing." Third parties have helped the FCC monitor network capacity during the pandemic, Carr said. Networks are holding up "very well" in the U.S., he said. Networks seem to have capacity to support the use, he said. Fixed voice call volume is up 20-25%, Carr said, with mobile call volume up 10% or less, Carr said: it indicates people are staying home, and fixed networks have necessary capacity. The COVID-19 telehealth program is in good shape now, Carr said: "We'll see what happens when we get closer" to spending the $200 million Congress allocated. The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted vulnerabilities of the telecom networks from foreign threats, Carr said. Steps to protect the networks from companies that may be owned or influenced by China are underway. "This isn't just about phone calls and emails," Carr said, and is increasingly about other network traffic, such as telehealth and online banking. "If these networks are threatened, then everything we value is threatened," he said. Carr wants Congress to consider funding in its next COVID-19 relief bill to address ways to mitigate network vulnerabilities.

Smart glasses maker Vuzix received $11.3 million from a stock offering to institutional investors, with proceeds to be used for building inventory to meet increasing demand, it said Monday, citing the uncertain economic, public health and political climate. The company posted Q1 earnings Monday of $1.53 million vs. $1.37 million in the year-ago quarter. CEO Paul Travers said the COVID-19 pandemic “awakened the enterprise smart glasses industry, particularly across telemedicine, field service and remote support and manufacturing.” The company has had an uptick in orders since sheltering-in-place regulations in mid-March, he said. The company expanded its engineering services and OEM programs, Travers said. It's also developing waveguide and display engine technologies around MicroLEDs with new partners.

Domestic violence calls to 911 continue to rise amid the coronavirus even though more public safety answering points report lower call volume overall, the National Emergency Number Association reported Monday. NENA polled about 500 emergency number professionals. Nearly half said dispatches increased for domestic violence incidents; more than 40% said dispatches about disturbed persons rose. About 75% reported decreasing 911 call volume over the past three weeks, compared with half in a NENA report last month (see 2004130032). About 39% said their PSAP had quarantined or sent home employees due to either COVID-19 symptoms or a positive test.

COVID-19 is “accelerating the shift to streaming,” said Roku CEO Anthony Wood on a Thursday Q1 call. The pandemic is slowing growth of its video advertising business, he said. The streaming device maker cited Nielsen data saying prime-time linear viewing March 16-April 19 among adults 18-34 was down 18% year on year, and that nearly half of TV viewing was streamed. Subscription VOD trials and transactional VOD purchases were up, but the ad business has seen “higher than normal cancellations” as overall advertising budgets were cut; part of that has moved to Roku from traditional TV budgets, it said. Roku believes its ad business will deliver “substantial” revenue growth, “albeit at a slower pace and lower gross profit” than projected. Wedbush estimates the ad drop-off at 20%, and Roku is “almost certainly gaining market share of overall digital advertising,” analyst Michael Pachter wrote investors Friday. Though he's “warming” to Roku’s story -- “streaming has a more favorable and flexible price point than cable” -- he sees the average revenue the company generates per user declining. Roku has 45%, 40 million, of U.S. connected TV homes, estimated Needham's Laura Martin. The stock closed down 7.9% Friday at $126.66.

Formal negotiations between President Donald Trump’s administration and Congress on a fourth major COVID-19 legislative package temporarily “paused” while the White House monitors the economic impact of the beginning of easing pandemic-related restrictions by some states, National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow told reporters Friday. Trump and congressional Democrats want a future COVID-19 bill to include major broadband funding (see 2004300058). Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker of Mississippi and some other Republicans also signaled interest (see 2005070055). “We just had” major aid funding via the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act and a supplementary measure to inject further money into the Paycheck Protection Program, Kudlow said: “We put all this money in, which is fine. It's well worth it. Let's see what happens. As we move into the reopening phase this month, maybe spillover to June, let's have a look at it before we decide who, what, where, when.”

The California Public Utilities Commission voted unanimously to provide $5 million from the California Advanced Services Fund adoption account to public schools and school districts in response to COVID-19 (see 2004200041). The draft order was adopted Thursday as part of the consent agenda at the livestreamed meeting conducted by videoconference with dial-in public comments. CPUC members also unanimously adopted a resolution to send nearly $11 million from the CASF infrastructure fund to a middle-mile broadband project covering tribal lands in Humboldt County. Policymakers should treat broadband as a basic utility and seek to empower local government and tribal solutions, said Commissioner Martha Aceves Guzman. In Minnesota, Sen. Patricia Torres Ray (D) introduced SF-4580 to spend $8 million on distance-learning grants this fiscal year. Minnesota senators passed SF-4494 earlier this week (see 2005050008). The House version of SF-4494 is HF-3029, but the chamber also proposed HF-1507, including $15 million for education, plus the same telehealth and rural broadband funding as the other bills.

Amid COVID-19, Sonos' direct-to-consumer business is gaining. CEO Patrick Spence cited roughly 400% growth in the DTC business in April, tamping down the total company growth decline for the month to 5%. For the quarter ended March 28, DTC grew 32% said Chief Financial Officer Brittany Bagley on a fiscal Q2 call Wednesday. (See Q2 materials here that include the call and financial report). Revenue for Q2 was $175 million, down 17% from the year-ago quarter. Quarterly loss widened to $52.3 million from $22.8 million. The company withdrew February guidance of $1.36 billion-$1.4 billion revenue for FY 2020, 8-11% growth, saying, “We do not know when physical retail will reopen, or how the global economy will recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.” On DTC, Spence said in Q&A that “in times like these, I think what happens is trends that were already underway accelerate in a big way.” A takeaway from the surge in April DTC sales was that consumers are willing to buy audio products “in a big way online,” said Spence. He called Sonos Radio, launched last month (see 2004230067) with Entercom as a partner, a “toe in the water on services” for the hardware company. Sonos has always had a radio component, but “we hadn’t touched it in 15 years,” said the executive. It's using Radio to “showcase what’s possible” on the Sonos app, with an eye toward monetization through advertising.

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.

Most of the 138 nations tracked by BroadbandNow had slower average download and upload speeds in April than in January and February, it said Wednesday. Among the 10 largest nations, the U.S. is the only with no download speed degradation, though many countries saw slight declines. Countries with the most new virus cases had some download and upload speed degradation, while China has begun to climb again and Italy leveled off in April. BroadbandNow said 45 countries had no drop in average upload speeds in April, and 52 saw no drop in average download speeds.