The movie theater industry is among “the very hardest hit” in this pandemic, AMC Entertainment CEO Adam Aron said on a Q3 call Monday. AMC’s loss grew 1,553% from a year earlier to $905.8 million. Global theater lockdowns and average attendance hovering under 20% of capacity led to revenue falling 91% to $119.5 million. AMC made “great strides” in the quarter to “safely open our theaters where permitted,” said Aron, but attendance has been “minimal.” AMC's attendees numbered 10 million since reopenings, he said, “and we have not heard of even one instance where the coronavirus was spread.” Aron estimated 90% of AMC’s U.S. theaters are open in 44 of its 45 states: “Critical” markets of Los Angeles and New York remain closed through state mandates, he said. “In the past few weeks, and especially just in the last few days, we've been ordered to close our theaters for most of the month of November” outside the U.S., he noted. The “gravity of the situation” puts the theater industry in “almost a warlike position of resolve and determination,” said Aron. “We are fighting this virus with all of our smarts, and all of our minds. We are a resilient, resourceful and creative bunch in AMC and all of that energy is being deployed to fight the good fight.” The company is working feverishly to raise and preserve cash, the chief said. That's including the “groundbreaking" Universal pact July 28 enabling AMC to begin “participating” in a new premium VOD window through its AMC Theatres on Demand platform. Universal plans to release six movies theatrically, exclusively through AMC, in Q4, “something that no other studio that does not yet have a PVOD window established has been willing to try,” Aron said. AMC has “sufficient liquidity to last through to the beginning of 2021,” said Chief Financial Officer Sean Goodman. The stock closed 8.4% higher Tuesday at $2.34.

Wearables and smart hearable devices are benefiting from the pandemic, reported Canalys Monday, saying global wearable band and true wireless stereo device (TWS) shipments, pegged to grow 32% this year to a total 436.5 million, will be “more resilient against the pandemic” than smartphones. Shipments are forecast at 200 million for bands and 350 million for TWS devices in 2021. "The pandemic will prolong replacement cycles for smartphones,” said analyst Cynthia Chen, but the “lipstick effect” will drive consumers to spend on smaller, less costly items during an economic downturn. Consumers' attention to health and wellness has increased significantly during the pandemic, creating an opportunity for wearables from Xiaomi, Garmin, Fitbit and Huami, she said. Indoor activities including remote learning, working from home and home entertainment -- along with outdoor sports and recreation -- led to better-than-expected growth in TWS headphone shipments from companies including Apple, Samsung and JLab Audio.

Though retail sales have “largely recovered” from COVID-19 lockdowns heading into the holiday season, the spike in coronavirus cases nationally “remains a threat,” said National Retail Federation Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz Monday. “Strong growth in retail sales during the last few months points to the resiliency of consumers even in this disruptive pandemic environment,” Kleinhenz said. “Taking in all the evidence available, the U.S. economic recovery has progressed more quickly than generally expected.” NRF is awaiting additional economic data before releasing its annual holiday spending forecast.

FCBA is facing “an unprecedented budget shortfall” for FY 2020-21 and created Friends of the FCBA to underwrite programs and events, Executive Director Kerry Loughney emailed members Friday. The Chairman’s Dinner, the primary fundraising event, was canceled due to the pandemic. “Many long-time supporters have indicated to us that they would like a way to direct their funds that were originally budgeted for FCBA activities and events to the organization,” wrote Loughney. The minimum Friends contribution, System Supporters, is $2,500, and the maximum, Titans of the Tech Bar, costs $10,000. Sponsors will get listings in FCBA publications and event tickets. NAB funding woes from cancellation of its major annual event prompted it to ask members for more money (see 2010290064).

A yearlong strategy to transform tablets into low-cost productivity tools is paying dividends during the COVID-19 pandemic, as consumers and educational institutions bought a record number of tablets during the back-to-school season, said Strategy Analytics Friday. Tablets are serving as “credible mobile computing alternatives to notebooks, even as both segments are experiencing record levels of demand in 2020,” said the research firm. Apple and Samsung led demand in a BTS season that grew 33% to a seven-year high, said SA. Apple shipped 15.1 million units in Q3, up from 10.1 million in Q3 2019; Samsung unit shipments grew 87% to 9.4 million units. Amazon was fourth, behind Huawei, with 4.9 million shipments, an 8% decline, due to the delay of Prime Day to October. Tablets are “being rightly recognized for the productivity power they provide at a lower price point than most notebooks,” while serving needs for entertainment and casual use, said analyst Eric Smith. SA sees the tablet trend continuing long-term.

Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Calif., urged the FCC Thursday to make public all consumer complaints the agency receives involving internet and phone service during the COVID-19 pandemic. McNerney pressed FCC Chairman Ajit Pai during the House Communications Subcommittee’s September oversight hearing (see 2009170068) to commit to posting that information. The FCC posted a “summary of the complaints on its website” Oct. 23, but “the information that has been shared is incomplete,” McNerney said in a letter to Pai. “The American people deserve to know about the specific problems that are arising, whether the problems are being resolved, and how long it is taking to resolve them. Unfortunately, none of this information is publicly posted on your agency’s website.” McNerney wants more complete information by Nov. 13. The FCC didn’t comment.

Amid travel restrictions, Savant created a virtual tour of its New York Experience Center for dealers to educate clients and designers about benefits of home control, lighting design and audio/video systems, said Angie Larson, a sales operation executive, on a Wednesday video call. Digital tours let the company handle far more tours, expanding on the “hundreds” it holds per year at the 8,000-square-foot space in the SoHo section of Manhattan. Using the virtual platform, the control company has tripled the number of tours it can accommodate, while attracting “an audience from all over the globe,” Larson told us. Savant’s TrueImage technology, used in its smartphone app, powers real-time changes inside the showroom, remotely, giving dealers a way to demonstrate technology in a showroom setting. “We’re trying to give dealers a resource when many of them can’t open their own showrooms,” Larson said.

NAB's board voted unanimously Tuesday to require additional payments from members to address “extreme loss of revenue” due mostly to the cancellation of the 2020 NAB show, said a letter. “This had a significant impact on the organization’s bottom line, accounting for the loss of 70% of operating revenue,” said the Virginia Association of Broadcasters in a letter to NAB members Wednesday from Leonard Wheeler, of Wheeler Broadcasting. Wheeler didn’t respond to a request for comment Thursday, but an NAB spokesperson confirmed that the vote took place. “The NAB Board of Directors made the difficult, but unanimous decision to assess members an amount equal to each member’s annual dues payment,” the letter said. “This was necessary to preserve the core advocacy functions of the organization.” To account for the pandemic-related financial difficulties faced by broadcasters, the assessment is payable over three years in installments, with the first payment due Dec. 31, 2021. The letter said NAB has taken cost-cutting measures, including “reducing executive salaries, instituting a hiring freeze and making budget cuts to non-mission critical initiatives.”

Imax referenced a “resurgent box office in Asia” in a Thursday Q3 earnings report showing revenue plunged 56% year on year to $37.3 million. It cited COVID-19-related closures for most of the company’s theater network through part of the quarter ended Sept. 30. Results reflected “notable non-cash items related to COVID-19 driven uncertainty, the delay of Hollywood releases, and the reclosure of theaters in some markets.” Imax technology sales and maintenance revenue fell 37% to $23.7 million. Five fewer sales and sales-type lease installations resulted in lower Imax system revenue. Maintenance revenue dropped to $5.9 million due to pandemic-related closures.

PCs are “mission-critical” for working and studying from home in a “remote-everything world,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told investors Tuesday evening. Windows 10 monthly active devices are up double digits year over year, and Microsoft will have its largest lineup ever of Surface devices “this holiday season to support every person and work style,” he said. Microsoft Teams has more than 115 million “daily active users,” and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity apps “generated more than 30 billion collaboration minutes in a single day this quarter,” he said. Q1 ended Sept. 30. It added more than 100 “new capabilities” to Teams in the past six months, “including breakout rooms, meeting recaps, shift scheduling and large-scale digital events up to 20,000 participants,” said Nadella. CTA picked Microsoft last week as its “cloud platform" contractor to run CES 2021 as a virtual event (see 2010190043).