ViaSat and OneWeb want to ensure that OneWeb's petition for U.S. market access, which is to be voted on at Thursday's FCC meeting, is kept separate from the agency's ongoing look at updating some satellite rules. ViaSat, in a series of ex parte meetings in recent days with aides to Chairman Ajit Pai, and Commissioners Mike O'Rielly and Mignon Clyburn, and with International Bureau staff (see here, here, here and here) pushed for various edits to the draft order. The company argued numerous statements in the draft reach conclusions about issues subject to pending updates to Part 2 and Part 25 rules for nongeostationary orbit (NGSO) constellations, and that the petition could be acted on in ways that don't set up conclusions that are potentially precedential. ViaSat said its requested edits involve whether some ITU provisions the FCC hasn't adopted still satisfy agency obligations to protect Ka-band geostationary orbit constellations from Ka-band NGSO interference. OneWeb also is arguing for a demarcation between its petition and the FCC's ongoing NGSO rulemaking. OneWeb Senior Director-Regulatory Affairs Mariah Shuman told IB acting Chief Tom Sullivan that any issues about NGSO systems should be dealt with in the ongoing NGSO rulemaking, and there shouldn't be any decisions on such items in connection with the OneWeb petition, said an ex parte filing posted Friday. O3b, in a filing last week, also proposed several changes to the OneWeb draft order. The OneWeb item is expected to get a favorable 3-0 decision (see 1706120036).

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals should stay its mandate in its May ruling pending a petition for a writ of certiorari to be filed at the Supreme Court, appellant Alternative Entertainment Inc. (AEI) said in a motion (in Pacer) Thursday with the appeals court. The 6th Circuit last month upheld a National Labor Relations Board finding that the direct broadcast satellite service installer violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) by barring workers from pursuing class-action litigation or collective arbitration of work-related claims and when it barred a technician from discussing a proposed compensation change with co-workers and subsequently fired him for discussing the change. AEI in its motion said the Supreme Court petition would focus on whether employment agreements can include a provision barring class-action actions, as multiple circuit courts have agreed, or whether that provision would violate Section 7 of the NLRA, as the 6th Circuit held in its ruling.

Pointing to slower-than-expected sales of services via its Epic high-throughput satellite constellation, particularly network services prospects on Intelsat 33e, Intelsat is cutting back its revenue expectations for 2017. In an SEC filing Friday, Intelsat said it now expects revenue for the year of $2.15 billion to $2.18 billion vs. its previous projections of $2.18 billion to $2.225 billion. Activations of Intelsat's Flex and Prism managed services also are going more slowly than expected, it said.

The FCC updating its Part 2 and Part 25 rules for non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) constellations "is paramount," SpaceX told International Bureau and eighth-floor staffers in a series of meetings and phone calls, according to docket 16-408 filings posted Thursday (see here and here). In the meetings, SpaceX said the agency moving on OneWeb's market entry petition shows it understands NGSO constellations can help close the broadband connectivity gap. It also urged the FCC "to maintain a brisk pace" processing the NGSO applications -- including SpaceX's -- that were accepted for filing by the OneWeb processing round. Pointing to the OneWeb draft order making clear no NGSO will have exclusive spectrum rights, SpaceX said finalizing the rules update and codifying that approach will provide operating certainty for deployment of numerous NGSO systems. The meetings included acting Bureau Chief Tom Sullivan and aides to Chairman Ajit Pai and to Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Mike O'Rielly, according to SpaceX. The OneWeb draft order is seen passing easily at the commission's June 22 meeting (see 1706120036).

The failed OneWeb/Intelsat merger might be a win for other geostationary orbit (GSO) satellite network operators, giving them a chance to pursue their own medium earth orbit (MEO) or low earth orbit (LEO) ambitions, Northern Sky Research analyst Gagan Agrawal blogged Wednesday. If the deal hadn't fallen apart (see 1706010066), it potentially could have pushed other GSO operators with non-GSO ambitions "out of the game," it said. The post also said other major GSO operators are varied in their approaches to non-GSO, with Intelsat, Eutelsat and JSAT focusing on strategic partnerships that give them "a very limited play in this arena," Telesat "going aggressive" with LEO plans and SES -- through its investment in and subsequent acquisition of O3b -- "has materialized MEO-GEO synergies into one of the more promising growth areas in the near term."

The deadline for comments on proposed updates to rules governing earth stations in motion is in 45 days, said a notice to be published in Friday's Federal Register, with replies due 75 days after publication. The FCC OK'd the NPRM in May (see 1705180042).

Norsat continues to be the subject of a bidding war, with the company announcing Wednesday it received a higher bid from Privet Fund Management. Hytera last month upped its bid (see 1705310005) after an offer from Privet (see 1704170026), and Norsat Wednesday said Hytera has five business days to amend its offer. Any Norsat deal would need regulatory OK from Canada's Industrial Technologies Office, it said.

SiriusXM bowed the Onyx EZR dock and play radio Tuesday that’s said to improve features at an entry-level price. The unit’s larger display, with improved resolution over its Onyx EZ predecessor, has split-screen, selectable background and text options for improved viewing under different lighting conditions, said the company. The TuneMix feature allows users to listen to a mix of songs from several of their favorite channels, it said.

Blanket earth station authorizations should allow adding a new product without filing a modification application if the new product meets standards in Section 25.118(a)(4) of FCC rules, Iridium said in a filing posted Monday in docket 16-251. Terrestrial providers are allowed to add new products without a modification application, it said. The FCC is seeking suggestions on changes to rules adopted in 2001-04 (see 1612280030). Iridium backed multiple EchoStar regulatory update suggestions (see 1705050060), including eliminating the need to maintain printed versions of a Part 25 authorization application and allowing streamlined applications for satellite and earth station authorizations when they will operate in the same network.

Facing pushback from terrestrial interests about their proposed tiered population limit approach to the 28 GHz, 37 GHz and 39 GHz bands (see 1705050056 and 1704210042), satellite broadband companies argued their tiered proposal wouldn't significantly affect upper microwave flexible use systems, in a filing posted Friday in docket 14-177. It would give earth station operators more flexibility to operate in rural areas that UMFUS operators likely wouldn't serve, the satellite interests said. The filing included multiple maps comparing the area covered by earth stations under current population limits with areas that would be covered under the tiered population approach they're backing. Populations covered in the examples would go up substantially, while the area where UMFUS would potentially see interference is "miniscule," the satellite broadband operators said. Behind the filing were Boeing, EchoStar, Intelsat, Inmarsat, O3b, SES and OneWeb. Fixed Wireless Communications Coalition co-counsel Mitchell Lazarus of Fletcher Heald said Monday the FWCC doesn't oppose a tiered approach, but the tiers as suggested by the satellite operators would cause interference to UMFUS in each of the examples the satellite operators submitted. FWCC said there's no assurance the examples are representative.