Dish Planning Smaller Antennas for BSS Earth Stations

Dish Network hopes to roll out a new 3.7-meter-diameter antenna earth station to operate with 17/24 GHz broadcast satellite service (BSS) systems by October. In an FCC International Bureau filing Monday, Dish said it needed its blanket earth station license modified to add up to 25,000 3.7-meter receive-only earth stations to the 4.5-meter and 6.35-meter antennas already authorized and to extend the required date of construction completion and commencement of operation by six months, from June 30 to Dec. 30. Dish said earth station design and manufacturing is still catching up with the recent availability of 17/24 GHz BSS service, thus necessitating the additional time while it and its vendors find the components needed for receive-only BSS. It also said the smaller antenna type "will facilitate expeditious deployment of 17 GHz receive-only earth stations" that could then support video and data services on a multi-use terrestrial network, potentially leading to more mobile broadband service options.