Combined proposals Senate Republicans released Monday for the next major COVID-19 aid legislative package have few telecom and tech provisions. A proposal from Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., includes $1 billion for the FCC to implement the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act. HR-4998 provides funding to help U.S. communications providers remove Chinese equipment determined to threaten national security (see 2003040056). Shelby’s HR-4998 funding is the same as what the House Appropriations Committee allocated in its FY 2021 FCC funding bill (see 2007080064). The FCC earlier sought $2 billion to implement HR-4998 (see 2003230066). Shelby wants $175 million in emergency funding to CPB for “stabilization grants to maintain programming services and to preserve small and rural public" stations. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., filed the Restoring Critical Supply Chains and Intellectual Property Act with language from the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors for America Act. HR-7178/S-3933 would allocate funding to match state and local incentives and direct the Commerce Department to establish a grant program. The bill’s text is included in both versions of the FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-6395/S-4049). House Democrats had more tech and telecom language in their Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act (HR-6800), including broadband funding (see 2005130059).

Global TV demand for 2020 is expected to “remain resilient,” said Corning Chief Financial Officer Tony Tripeny on an investor call Tuesday: “In-home entertainment is more important than ever." TV sell-through unit sales increased slightly from the 2019 quarter, he said. Sales were better than in Q1, and “better than the industry anticipated,” he said. “Preliminary retail sell-through data for June and July indicate that demand recovery in China has held and that demand in North America remained robust, while emerging regions remained weak.” The company's display-glass sales declined 11.2% year over year to $753 million, and were about flat with Q1, said the CFO. Q2 display-glass production volume grew by low-single digits from Q1 because Gen 10.5 customers “bought more glass,” he said. The manufacturer long term isn’t “just counting on everybody buying more stuff,” said CEO Wendell Weeks. “We’re putting more Corning into the products people already buy.” Corning’s specialty materials business, which includes Gorilla Glass used in 8 billion devices globally, had a 13.5% sales increase, while the smartphone market declined, said Weeks. Samsung will be the first to use Corning’s “toughest” cover glass yet, Gorilla Glass Victus, on a smartphone “in the near future, he said.

Semiconductor supplier Amkor Technology experienced strong Q2 demand in its communications and consumer “end markets,” driving 31% revenue growth year over year, said CEO Giel Rutten on a Monday investors call. Though global smartphone unit shipments are expected to decline in 2020, Amkor had first-half growth in its 4G products, plus “a steady ramp” of its 5G components, including its RF, front-end, modem, sensor and artificial intelligence products, he said. Computing grew 13% sequentially and year over year, exceeding expectations in “all applications,” including PCs and laptops, he said. “While the semiconductor supply chain has responded very well to the coronavirus challenges, we are still dealing with an environment of dynamic forecast changes as customers try to balance limited visibility with inventory levels."

Public Knowledge's IP3 Awards event Sept. 24 -- covering areas of intellectual property, information policy and internet protocol -- will be virtual due to the pandemic, PK said Monday.

The FCC Wireless Bureau granted emergency authorization for standard reviews to proceed for public safety in Michigan’s Charlevoix and Washtenaw counties. The bureau June 25 released an electronic process for licensees to apply for expedited historic review or emergency authorization of wireless facilities during the pandemic (see 2006260028).

An Amazon spokesperson confirmed Prime Day will be later this year, after the event was pulled from its normal July schedule. This year, the representative emailed, the e-tailer will hold Prime Day "later than usual, while ensuring the safety of our employees and supporting our customers and selling partners." Prime members in India will experience the event Aug. 6-7. Also Monday, Target followed Walmart by closing this Thanksgiving, leaving to the pre-social distancing age images of crowds storming store entrances to score the best deals. “Let’s face it: Historically, deal hunting and holiday shopping can mean crowded events, and this isn’t a year for crowds,” blogged Target CEO Brian Cornell.

Americans are increasingly worried about returning to offices amid spikes in COVID-19 cases, and most expect more fall outbreaks, IBM’s monthly consumer attitudes survey found. It canvassed 7,000 respondents in July, finding 84% would prefer working from home indefinitely, at least occasionally, up 3 points from June. More than six in 10 say employers need to communicate clearly what they're doing to sanitize, up from 54% in June. And 58% say employers need strict social distancing protocols, up from 49% in June. Telehealth use is rising, with 40% having participated in a virtual medical visit the past month, up 6 points from June. Half the June respondents planned to keep using telehealth after the pandemic, and 60% expressed those intentions in July. Only 19% said they used telehealth sessions before COVID-19.

More than six in 10 seniors agree that stay-at-home mandates swayed them to embrace technology more, and nearly half regularly binge-watch TV shows, a healthinsurance.com survey found. The healthcare website canvassed 1,000 U.S. adults 65 and older online July 20-21, finding tech ownership is high among Medicare-eligible seniors. Three-quarters own a smart TV or streaming device, 89% have a smartphone and 68% use a tablet. Two-thirds subscribe to cable. Sixty-four percent say they left the house only to visit the supermarket or pharmacy. Sixty-eight percent of those who haven’t used telehealth during the pandemic say it’s because they haven’t had to. Ten percent used it before the crisis, 44% have used it since and 43% plan to continue using it after COVID-19.

Stay-at-home restrictions in Q2 should result in “substantial revenue upside” for Amazon, which reports Thursday, Wedbush's Michael Pachter wrote investors Monday. Grocery business will likely be a key driver, said the analyst, maintaining a revenue estimate of $81 billion. The company has switched focus from boosting shipping speeds to “the wellbeing of its employees,” Pachter said. COVID-19-related expenses in Q1 were over $600 million; Q2 estimates are $4 billion or more, he said. Spending on safety measures is “unlikely to slow down any time soon.”

May desktop monitor imports soared from April at a rate nearly quadruple that of laptops and tablets, the connectivity tools most commonly associated with COVID-19 stay-at-home mandates, according to Census Bureau figures we accessed Sunday through the International Trade Commission’s DataWeb. May brought the highest monthly unit imports of monitors in 10 months. The one-month spike in May monitor imports came amid surging demand in videoconferencing adoption. Cisco’s Webex exceeded 500 million meeting participants in April, generating 25 billion meeting minutes, more than triple the volume in February (see 2005140001). U.S. importers sourced 4.16 million monitors from all countries in May, a 45% increase from the 2.86 million shipped here in April, said DataWeb. May laptop and tablet imports increased 11%. Mexico, South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam also contributed to U.S. monitor supply in May, on a vastly smaller scale than China.