Emmanuel Macron's victory Sunday in the French presidential election marked “an endorsement of the country's confidence in the ability of French innovators and technology companies to power the national economy,” CTA President Gary Shapiro said in a statement. “France has long embraced the power of technology to change our lives for the better and deliver myriad economic benefits,” Shapiro said Sunday. In Macron, it now “will have a president who supports and enables that power and potential,” he said. Macron’s platform “to reduce government spending, lower corporate taxes and allow companies to negotiate work hours with their employees” will allow French tech companies “to innovate at a lightning-fast pace,” he said. Macron twice visited CES, and is a leader who’s “passionate about the tech sector and the jobs it creates,” Shapiro said. CTA expects France's presence at CES “to continue to climb under Macron's leadership,” he said. The U.S. tech sector “stands ready to support his vision for a forward-looking, innovative future of tech disruption," he said. BSA|The Software Alliance also reacted favorably.

Among media, wireless and wireline industries, cable distribution is likely the best positioned due to strength of its broadband product, S&P Global Ratings reported Thursday. S&P said wireline's fiber-to-the-home (FTHH) service is better than cable broadband, but it's offered only in select markets, and cable ISPs have been adding broadband subscribers while wireline loses DSL and FTHH customers. It said the risk of more government regulation of the cable industry has declined under the Trump administration and FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, but cord-cutting and, longer term, 5G are threats. S&P said the current cord-cutting rate of less than 2 percent a month "is manageable." S&P said the media industry -- despite declining TV and film audiences -- remains strong "because content ... is still the key component underlying the overall media, telecommunications, and cable ecosystem." S&P said it views wireless less favorably due to the competitive dynamics, even though it will benefit from increased mobile video and data demand and from IoT devices and services. It said wireline is weakest because of industry pressures and a weak competitive position. S&P ranked Comcast highest of the 12 cable, telco and media companies, followed by Disney, AT&T, Charter Communications, Verizon and, at the end, Discovery and Viacom. S&P raised its long-term corporate credit rating and debt ratings on Disney to "A+'" from "A" on strong business performance, particularly at its movie and TV studio division and cable networks.

While pricing is generally driving down MVPD subscriber numbers, Charter Communications has room to boost subscribership largely by taking market share from direct broadcast satellite, CEO Tom Rutledge said in an analyst call Tuesday. He said MVPD subscriber losses trend won't change anytime soon, but it also isn't accelerating. Charter said in a news release the number of residential video customers dropped by 100,000 in Q1, largely due to churn from legacy Time Warner Cable customers, ending the quarter with 16.7 million customers. During the quarter, it said it added 428,000 residential internet customers, putting its subscriber base at 21.8 million, and 37,000 residential voice customers, giving it 10.4 million. Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker wrote investors that the subscriber numbers from churn off of lower-value products are apparently hiding customers shifting to higher-end packages. She said despite Charter assertions that streaming bundles shouldn't pose a competitive threat, "we'll believe it when we see it." MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett wrote that the subscriber numbers confirm that cord-cutting is accelerating across MVPDs. Rutledge said Charter has now launched new pricing and service packages across all its legacy TWC and Bright House Networks territories -- with Charter having bought the two in 2016 -- except for Hawaii, with the pricing and packages launching there soon. He said minimum broadband speeds are 60 Mbps or 100 Mbps across Charter's footprint, depending on the market, and that Charter is about to restart its all-digital conversion across TWC and BHN markets that aren't all digital yet, with the work to last through early 2019. Rutledge said Charter is testing "5G-like services" on various spectrum bands in a variety of different markets. Asked about Charter not pursing 600 MHz incentive auction spectrum, unlike Comcast, Rutledge said Charter's mobile virtual network operator agreement with Verizon is sufficient for a planned wireless offering launch in 2018, and Charter doesn't see any need now for that spectrum, though "opportunities will be available to get it." Pointing to Charter integrating Netflix into its user interface, Rutledge said the company is in similar talks with YouTube.

Rahul Patel, Qualcomm senior vice president/general manager-connectivity, will be a keynoter at Parks Associates’ Connections conference, May 23-25, in San Francisco, said Parks Wednesday. Other keynoters are Matt Eyring, chief strategy and innovation officer, Vivint Smart home; Kristine Faulkner, senior vice president/general manager-Cox Homelife, Cox Communications; Miles Kingston, general manager-smart home, Intel; and Sridhar Solur, senior vice president-product and development, Xfinity Home, IoT and data services, Comcast.

MPAA's Chris Dodd, who has led the film association since 2011, is leaving; ex-diplomat Charles Rivkin will succeed him, the group said Friday evening. Dodd, who before joining the association was a Democratic senator from Connecticut, is leaving as CEO Sept. 4 and at year's end as chairman, said a news release. It said the board was to meet Saturday to name as his successor Rivkin, assistant secretary of state for economic and business affairs under the administration of then-President Barack Obama. Rivkin would start Sept. 5 and the two men would "work together to complete the transition by the beginning of next year," MPAA said. Before the State Department, Rivkin "spent nearly twenty years in the creative sector" as CEO of Jim Henson Co. and W!ldBrain, it said. Kevin Tsujihara, CEO of MPAA member Warner Bros., cited Rivkin's entertainment and government background. Rivkin said he's "excited to work with the member studios to continue to expand the global market for entertainment content, while ensuring creators’ rights are respected around the world.”

An array of forthcoming seismic technological changes necessitates that policymakers and tech companies start talking about those applications and the policy questions they raise, NCTA President Michael Powell said Thursday at The Near Future. The joint CableLabs-NCTA event -- NCTA’s replacement for its now-canceled INTX show (see 1703060044) -- didn’t delve into those policy questions, but focused on tech, with hands-on virtual reality displays and an array of presentations. CableLabs CEO Phil McKinney said the intent was to showcase applications that could be realized in the next three to five years, all dependent on high-speed networks -- applications including for entertainment, videoconferencing, retail, manufacturing and healthcare. Powell and McKinney said the connective tissue for much of the highlighted tech will be the 1 GB-speed networks expected to become increasingly common over the next couple of years. Video content increasingly will be immersive and short form, with social interactivity aspects, said Technicolor Senior Vice President-Corporate Development Tim Dodd. He said videogame engines are increasingly being used in digital effects and video, because of their interactive real-time and high-end capabilities. VR has been talked about since the 1990s, but smartphones have “softened us up” to finally making that level of content interactivity go mainstream, said 20th Century Fox Futurist Ted Schilowitz. He said unlike the “box on face” model with clunky headsets, “it’s going to get a lot better,” with wearables coming quickly. He said he's working on VR original content now tied to other content, such as motion pictures.

Attendance at the NAB Show reached 103,443, surpassing 2016's attendance of 102,513, said NAB in a news release. More than 26,000 of the attendees were international, from 161 countries, the release said. The 2017 event had more than 1,800 companies exhibiting in more than a million square feet, the release said.

The Thread Group and the Continental Automated Buildings Association agreed to collaborate and share information on IoT interoperability for connected homes and buildings, they said in a Wednesday announcement. Under the agreement, the industry groups can establish forums and exchange information on connected home and intelligent building issues and on topics affecting home automation, they said.

The Digital Entertainment Group announced four finalists for the inaugural Hedy Lamarr Award for Innovation in Entertainment Technology, it said Monday. Finalists are Geena Davis, founder, Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media; Nonny de la Peña, CEO, Emblematic Group; Dana Golub, senior director, public programs, PBS; and Cynthia McKenzie, chief information officer, Deluxe Entertainment Services Group. Lamarr, a Hollywood actress known for roles in such films as Samson and Delilah, The Strange Woman and Tortilla Flat, was a lifelong inventor whose work included pioneering "frequency hopping," which became the foundation for spread spectrum technology. The technology, conceived by Lamarr and composer George Antheil and patented in 1942, was used in World War II to secure Allied communications and weapons guidance. It resists interference and dropout, and is used today in cellular, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth applications, said DEG. The awards recognize female executives in entertainment technology who have contributed to the industry. Winners will be announced next month.

David Evans, chief technology officer of Stringify, will deliver the opening CEDIA Expo 2017 keynote Sept. 6 at the San Diego Convention Center, said the trade group in a Monday announcement. The "The Internet of Intelligent Things (IoIT)” keynote will cover adding intelligence to connected devices and new opportunities for technology integrators, CEDIA said. The former Cisco chief futurist and emerging technologies expert holds patents in areas including connected cars, networking technologies, virtual people, IoT and mobile phones, it said. The keynote is scheduled from 5:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m.