Northstar, SNR Fretting About 'Gotcha' Process in Fixing Dish De Facto Control

Without FCC input and guidance on how it would view potential fixes to Dish Network de facto control issues, the court-ordered process giving the designated entities a chance to fix those control issues (see 1708290012) could end up "as nothing more than a 'gotcha' process" aimed at having Northstar Wireless and SNR Wireless fail, the two say. In a Universal Licensing System filing Friday, they said the remand proceeding needs changing or it could result in further litigation and thus legal uncertainty about the AWS-3 licenses SNR and Northstar won but weren't granted. The two say they are in talks with investors about fixing the Dish control issues and plan to submit their cure filings to the FCC by June 8. They say FCC guidance "is appropriate and legally required" since the agency's 2015 order sets out its de facto control concerns but doesn't say how to address them. They said the FCC's not taking part in discussions on de facto control issues is contrary to agency precedent and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit's decision. They contend the agency already has standards on good faith, character and candor and those provide benchmarks for assessing the conduct of parties in the negotiation process. SNR and Northstar say that they have made notable changes to their structures and agreements (see 1804040004) shows the are acting in good faith. They say if a DE applicant won't be allowed to engage with agency staff to cure de facto control issues after an auction, the agency needs to rule on the applicants' qualifications for bidding credits before the auction. The FCC didn't comment. A draft item on the DEs' applications for new AWS-3 licenses is on circulation (see 1804200058). The filing recapped a meeting of SNR and Northstar representatives with outgoing Commissioner Mignon Clyburn.