Daily average time spent with TV and digital video, including streaming, will drop next year to 333.6 minutes, about 10 minutes less a day than in 2021 when the COVID-19 pandemic fueled a bump in viewing, said a Wednesday eMarketer report. But viewing trends continue to shift "irrevocably" toward digital, it said.

“Gaps in readiness” are seriously hampering the ability of many organizations to “manage and recover” from ransomware attacks, a Zerto study found. “The research also underlines the increased risk to mitigation strategies presented by widespread skills shortages and over-reliance on internal resources,” said the Hewlett Packard Enterprise subsidiary Tuesday.

Consumer tech will feel the brunt of “the weakening stay-at-home economy, the pandemic in China, international tensions, and rising inflation” in first-half 2022, blogged TrendForce Tuesday. In the category’s traditional off-season period, demand for PCs, laptops, TVs and smartphones has “cooled significantly," leading downstream customers to lower shipment targets for the year, it said. Demand for automotive, IoTs, communications and servers remains “good."

Competitors raised concerns with Delaware limiting eligibility for $56 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to big ISPs with existing cable franchises. Competitive telecom groups said they hoped for open and technology-neutral bidding processes there and in other states. A Delaware official defended the state program’s eligibility restriction, which excluded a Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) winner, as an “edge-out” strategy to extend broadband more quickly.

Pearl TV is "focused" on building “scale” in ATSC 3.0 deployments and consumer adoption, Managing Director Anne Schelle said in an interview, commenting on recent remarks by Sinclair President-Technology Del Parks that the industry needs to begin planning for the shutdown of the “legacy” 1.0 service (see 2203310029). It’s “still the early days” of 3.0 service deployments, said Schelle.

Sonos acquired Netherlands-based transducer maker Mayht Holding for about $100 million in cash, it said Monday. Mayht’s approach to engineering smaller and lighter form factors “without compromising on quality,” will allow Sonos to broaden its product portfolio, said CEO Patrick Spence. The company will release more details on its fiscal Q2 earnings call in May, it said.

Antitrust filing fees should be increased and enforcer deadlines extended to reflect modern markets, FTC Chair Lina Khan said Friday. Congress’ assumptions when the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act passed in 1976 are now severely outdated, considering the recent surge in merger filings, she said during the American Bar Association’s antitrust law spring meeting in Washington.

Almost two years after FCC commissioners approved a Further NPRM allowing more widespread use of the 6 GHz band, the agency hasn’t finalized the rules. To some industry experts, the delay has been a surprise. The agency appeared close to acting at the end of the Trump administration (see 2012180057). Later speculation was that an order would have to wait for a ruling on a challenge to the broader order before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (see 2104160053).

The FCC’s new consumer broadband labels "must be simple, accurate, and user friendly," said Commissioner Geoffrey Starks during the agency’s second virtual public hearing on the subject (see 2203110064). The FCC is "working to resolve questions" about whether the way consumers use broadband has "significantly changed since 2016 in ways that call for revisions to the format or content of the proposed labels," where the labels should be displayed, how to ensure accuracy of the labels, and the "appropriate time frame" for providers to meet the labeling requirements, Starks said.

Accenture CEO Julie Sweet joined Microsoft President Brad Smith and security experts Friday in seeking more focus on “responsible” AI. It's time for a broader national discussion, involving the government, interest groups and the companies building AI systems, said speakers during a Center for Strategic and International Studies webinar Friday. CSIS plans to launch a project in coming months.