TCL extended its sponsorship of The Ellen DeGeneres show for a sixth season, said the TV maker Monday. The agreement includes audience giveaways of TCL Roku TVs, individual promotions and activations across the show’s digital, social media channels and ellentube.com. The show began the current season gifting audience members 65-inch 4K HDR models, TCL said.
DirecTV advertising warning of TV channels being lost unless Congress reauthorizes the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act is "disingenuous at best, deceptive at worst," NAB President Gordon Smith said in a letter Thursday to AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson. STELAR "was never intended to be permanent" and the number of U.S. households not getting local broadcast signals via DirecTV is small, Smith said. He said most DirecTV subscribers face no impact if STELA expires, and AT&T is "sadly misleading" them. He said AT&T's DirecTV doesn't need STELAR to provide local broadcast signals in the 210 U.S. TV markets. The telco didn't comment.
Critics of some ways tech can target kids found nothing to like in a potential FTC settlement with YouTube. “Once again, this FTC appears to have let a powerful company off the hook with a nominal fine for violating users’ privacy online,” said Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass. He's disappointed the settlement is reportedly on a party-line commissioner basis. In that scenario, Google would pay $150 million-$200 million over allegations YouTube violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (see 1906250061). It would be "a nominal fine," Markey tweeted Friday. Under COPPA, the commission "had authority to impose tens of billions in fines ... for YouTube’s improper corporate surveillance of children, targeted advertising to kids and failure to alert parents," said Public Citizen. The FTC and Google declined to comment.
LG said it's a global electronics partner for the American Ballet Theatre. The marketing alliance is designed to raise the profile of LG’s Signature brand “in the minds of sophisticated customers.” As global partner, LG will host events and product showcases at Lincoln Center in New York, and it plans to participate in ABT’s fall and spring galas in 2019-2020, it said Monday.
A 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejection of Comcast's appeal in a fight over compelled arbitration in a complaint about advertised cable-TV pricing conflicts with Supreme Court precedent, said CTIA in a docket 18-15288 amicus brief Friday (in Pacer). The group backed a Comcast ask for rehearing en banc (see 1908120009). A practical effect of the 9th Circuit decision is it could bar enforcement of millions of consumer contracts "including virtually all cell phone contracts," the association said. It said that because many companies rely on standardized contracts, the ruling could affect those companies' operations nationwide, not just in California. Consumers would face higher prices and "lose the benefit of an inexpensive and efficient forum for resolving disputes," it said. Outside counsel for the plaintiff-appellee didn't comment.
Consumers who try to support Amazon’s Happy School Year promotion are out of luck if they try to participate using an Alexa voice-control device that’s not an Echo, we found Monday when trying to support the cause. When we asked our Sonos One, with Alexa inside, the cost of donating a backpack for students in need, Alexa said, “Hmm, I’m not sure.” When we followed the exact request given in a news release announcing the program -- “Alexa, donate to Happy School Year" -- Alexa told us, “To donate to Happy School Year, you need to have an Echo device. Thanks for your interest.” In response to our question why the capability was available only on Echo devices, an Amazon spokesperson emailed: “The experience is only available on 1P [first-party] devices,” without elaborating. Backpacks are priced $9-$25, she said. For the program, customers with an Echo tell Alexa to donate, “and Alexa will take it from there,” said the release. Alexa confirms the backpack purchase, and Amazon fills a backpack with school supplies, “at no additional cost to the customer,” and ships it to Communities In Schools, a provider of in-schools resources and support. The program is part of Shaquille O’Neal’s Shaq-to-School events that will donate school supplies to 5,000 students in need; the curated list of supplies includes pencils, pens, a ruler and a notebook. Amazon is matching donations, it said.
Comcast will give customers a $100 prepaid card through Aug. 4 when they bring in an eligible, unlocked Android phone, activate a new line and port their number to Xfinity Mobile, it said in a "BYOD" (bring-your-own-device) promotion. The offer applies initially to Samsung Galaxy S9, S9 Plus, S8, S8 Plus, Note 9 and Note 8 devices, but Comcast expects to be able to activate more Android devices on its mobile network later this year. Xfinity Mobile, available to Xfinity Internet customers, includes up to five lines of unlimited nationwide talk and text, has no phone line access fees and lets customers choose from two data options for smartphones and tablets -- by the gigabyte or unlimited -- with mix-and-match data options. They can switch any line on an account between data options at any time during a billing cycle and access to Xfinity Wi-Fi hot spots is included, it said.
EBay is continuing its digs at Prime Day with ads mocking Amazon’s membership fee, product selection and last year’s server crash. It repeatedly cited the crash in a June news release pushing its own sales event called the eBay Crash Sale (see 1906260054). “They mostly have deals on a bunch of random stuff nobody really wants,” a daughter is seen telling her father in one eBay ad, suggesting Amazon is trying to clear inventory from warehouses. EBay promised to unlock more deals if Amazon’s server crashes during Prime Day 2019.
A 55-inch 4K TV under $300 is a headliner in Best Buy’s July 4th sale that was to run through Saturday. The Insignia NS-55DF710NA19 Fire TV Edition was $130 off to $299 in the sale, which also included a Toshiba 55-inch 55LF621U19 Fire Edition TV at the same price. Other tags for the private-labeled Insignia brand were $89 for a 32-inch 720p TV ($60 off) and $229 for a 55-inch 1080p NS-55D510NA19 ($50 off). Samsung’s Best Buy sales event was running beyond Saturday and includes the 55-inch NU-6900-series 4K smart TV for $379, cart-priced at $70 below the minimum advertised price of $449. The retailer offered free shipping for My Best Buy members. The lowest price on 75-inch TVs at Best Buy Friday was $799 for the TCL 75S425, marked down $400, we found; delivery was free to our New York address. Apple mobile products were on sale at Best Buy with savings up to $150 on the iPhone X ($799 with a one-time purchase price on Verizon and Sprint) and $200 off the 12.9-inch iPad Pro to $949.
A royal blue Asus Zenbook 13 is $100 off to $899 in an exclusive Amazon sale through July 9, said the PC maker Monday. Features of the 2.6-pound 13-inch laptop are Asus’ new NumberPad, a full-size LED-lit numeric keypad built into the touch pad, an infrared camera for facial-recognition log-in and an 8th-generation Intel Core i7 quad-core processor. Ports include a USB Type-C, USB 3.1, USB Type-A, HDMI and SD card. The laptop’s ErgoLift hinge tilts the keyboard to a comfortable typing position, said the company.