AMC-2's license term expires at year's end, and SES wants to extend that to Dec. 31, 2020, it said in an FCC International Bureau filing Wednesday. SES said the C- and Ku-band satellite has sufficient fuel to provide service for three more years and its subsequent deorbiting.
Hiking the per-subscriber direct broadcast satellite regulatory fee hurts consumers because that expense will be passed on to them, and the FCC hasn't said what regulatory developments of the past year justify such a "dramatic" rate increase for the third consecutive year, Dish Network argued. In a docket 17-134 ex parte filing posted Tuesday, it recapped a series of phone calls to eighth-floor aides in which Dish said agency arguments that a higher DBS regulatory fee would bring it closer to parity with cable TV and IPTV run counter to the FCC having acknowledged DBS isn't identical to cable and that it and DirecTV don't generate regulatory costs near what cable does. Dish and DirecTV have opposed the proposed 38 cents per subscriber fee on DBS (see 1706230027).
The Air Force's Operationally Responsive Space-5 (ORS-5) satellite is scheduled to launch Friday aboard an Orbital ATK Minotaur IV rocket, the Air Force Space Command said in a news release Tuesday. ORS-5 will be used to help track other satellites and space debris in geosynchronous orbit, it said.
Dish Network is asking a federal court to continue to stay National Union Fire Insurance Co. of Pittsburgh's litigation seeking declarations that it has no duty to defend or indemnify Dish in connection with a combined federal/state Telephone Consumer Protection Act complaint. The suit was stayed in February 2016, pending the outcome of the TCPA litigation. Dish, in its motion (in Pacer) filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Denver, said it likely will appeal the $280 million judgment entered against it in June (see 1706060069), so National Union’s duty to indemnify "remains uncertain and contingent." Dish also cited its ongoing appeal before the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a related insurance coverage dispute involving Ace American Insurance (see 1707170004), saying the 10th Circuit's guidance about insurance coverage issues "is likely to have import in this case." National Union outside counsel didn't comment.
Small-satellite operators need to be concerned with growing space debris problems because such satellites are generally less agile in orbit, with underpowered propulsion systems, and because the proliferation of planned smallsat constellations is a likely debris source, space investing firm Space Angels blogged Monday. It said beyond commercial approaches being proposed, such as better debris tracking, the smallsat industry has an obligation to self-police -- perhaps through the proposed Smallsat Space Traffic Safety Consortium -- before a catastrophic incident leads "to reactionary government regulations after the fact."
Alaska Airlines plans to install Gogo's 2Ku in-flight connectivity offering on its Boeing and Airbus fleet, Gogo said in a news release Tuesday. It said the 2Ku service will be installed on AA's Boeing 737s starting in the first half of 2018, with the AA fleet -- including Virgin America, which AA bought in 2016 -- to be fully satellite-equipped by early 2020.
Total global revenue for the commercial satellite ground segment should top $158 billion between 2016 and 2026, Northern Sky Research said in a news release Monday. It said satellite TV set-top boxes and antennas will remain the biggest source of shipments and revenue, but that the biggest driver of growth will be very small aperture platform modems and baseband equipment driven by such industries as mobility and consumer broadband. NSR also said applications like aeronautical satcom should see big growth, while satcom earth stations will shrink. NSR said low-end antennas are becoming a commodity, while flat panel antennas could be a disruptive technology for segments of the market.
Globecomm rejoined the Satellite Industry Association, SIA said in a news release Monday. It said the satcom services company left last year.
The coming generation of larger launch vehicles doesn't raise different regulatory approval issues from existing rockets because the new rockets have to meet the same public safety requirements, the FAA emailed Monday, confirming what satellite and launch experts said (see 1708180008). The agency said proposed launch vehicles might have "unique" hazards such as larger propellant loads or flying back multiple boosters to land at the same time, but it will treat these vehicles "just like existing vehicles." The FAA said it will identify each new launch vehicle’s hazards and require launch operators to mitigate these hazards. It also said the size of launch vehicles isn't what drives the need for new regulatory review techniques.
As part of FCC updates to parts 2 and 25 rules, SpaceX is recommending the agency require non-geostationary (NGSO) system operators share real-time beam pointing information through a neutral third-party clearinghouse as a way to avoid false in-line events. In docket 16-408 ex parte filing posted Friday, the company also said it recommended to International Bureau representatives that the agency adopt on-axis and off-axis equivalent isotropically radiated power limits for uplinks from all NGSO earth stations as a route to facilitation of sharing. And it said the FCC should clarify how it will process NGSO applicants' future requests for modifying their constellations, such as for the launch of more satellites than those reflected in their applications.