Traffic carried via fixed satellite service will be close to 3.5 Tbps by 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of 16 percent over the next decade, Euroconsult said in a news release Thursday. Euroconsult said it was revising previous forecasts upward because of an anticipated "massive increase" in capacity supply during that timeframe. The larger capacity volume will mean lower pricing due to more competition and falling fill rates, the firm said, saying the higher volume and lower pricing will mean a capacity market value of roughly $14 billion by 2025, vs. $11 billion in 2015. Euroconsult said it expects total high-throughput satellite capacity leased to more than triple in the next five years. It also said mobility traffic has been growing sizably and should be more than 10 percent of total satellite traffic by 2025.

Globalstar is continuing its lobby press on FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly, with a filing posted Thursday in docket 13-213 on a phone call between Globalstar consultant and ex-Commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth and O'Rielly aide Erin McGrath. O'Rielly's office has been involved in multiple Globalstar ex parte meetings in recent weeks about its broadband terrestrial low-power service proposal (see 1609020044, 1608240063 and 1608040045).

DirecTV customers with Genie HD DVR (Model HR54 or higher) set-tops will be able to watch six NBC Notre Dame football telecasts this season in 4K, DirecTV owner AT&T said in a Thursday announcement. The 4K coverage will accompany NBC's regular HD broadcasts, with the same on-air commentators, camera angles and graphics, DirecTV said.

Scandinavian airline SAS signed a deal with ViaSat for provision of in-flight passenger connectivity as part of a roughly $60 million investment that also includes full cabin upgrades across its short- and medium-haul fleet, ViaSat said in a news release Thursday: It will let SAS offer onboard Wi-Fi speeds of 12 Mbps. The satellite company said the first aircraft with ViaSat in-flight connectivity will enter service in the second half of 2017.

OneWeb hasn't shown in any way that its proposed satellite constellation can protect radio astronomy operations in bands adjacent to the planned fixed satellite broadband service downlinks at 10.7-12.75 GHz, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) said in a filing Tuesday in the company's FCC proceeding. OneWeb said it will coordinate in good faith with the radio astronomy community (see 1609020007), but NRAO said it has had little contact with the satellite operator aside from a recommendation that OneWeb hire a particular expert to do simulations of how the company's constellation might affect radio astronomy. The observatory also said it was concerned by "lack of consideration" of the need to protect remote sensing operations that use the 10.68-10.7 GHz passive service band for global climate measurements. NRAO said protection of radio astronomy operations in that passive service band will require heavy filtering "and perhaps other operational means." NRAO previously raised red flags about protecting that passive service band from possible OneWeb out of band emissions (see 1608090037). OneWeb didn't comment Wednesday.

Intelsat hopes to get up to five more years of use out of its Intelsat 901 satellite, it said in an FCC International Bureau filing Tuesday asking for modification of its authorization to extend its license term through Dec. 31, 2021. The satellite, which began service in 2001, is licensed to operate through Nov. 21. Intelsat said estimates of Intelsat 901's end of service life now range from June 2018, if no inclined orbit operation, to late 2021 in inclined orbit operation.

Days after surrendering its license authorizing launch and operation of a 17/24 GHz broadcasting satellite service satellite at 95.15 degrees west, Spectrum Five is renewing its plans to begin offering DBS in the U.S. In an FCC International Bureau filing Tuesday, Spectrum Five asked for a declaratory ruling it can enter the U.S. market with the satellite operating at 95.15 degrees west. The company said it previously was authorized to operate at that location with a Netherlands-authorized satellite, but it had to shift its business strategies from DBS to broadband when it couldn't secure international rights for DBS spectrum at that orbital location. It surrendered its license to the FCC last month, it said in a filing. In its Tuesday filing, Spectrum Five said it anticipates launch and being operational within five years, with the satellite designed to provide direct-to-home services using 17.3-17.7 GHz downlinks and 24.75-25.25 GHz uplinks. The company said it hasn't settled on exact specifications for the satellite's physical design and therefore hasn't contracted for its construction.

SES will team with Berlin's Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute to demo a “groundbreaking R&D project” at the IBC show by transmitting a 10K x 2K “panoramic video signal” via satellite to multiple devices at the SES stand, SES said in a Monday announcement. The signal, beamed from SES’s Astra satellite at 19.2 degrees east, will be viewable on an Ultra HD display as well as on several virtual reality headsets, SES said. “The viewer can choose a viewing angle, zoom in and out, turn the picture on the TV display using a simple remote control or choose to wear a VR headset, where the video signal is delivered simultaneously.” Footage shot on an OmniCam-360 camera and shown in the demo will provide a “first glimpse” of what a future 360-degree VR video image “would look like,” it said. “For the first time, it allows the viewer a truly immersive experience of being part of a virtual event, whether it is sports, concerts or other live shows.” IBC’s exhibit floor opens Friday in Amsterdam for a six-day run.

Encompass Digital Media will use capacity on Intelsat's Galaxy 13 satellite to host four NASA TV HD channels and its 4K Ultra HD distribution channel in North America, under a multiyear deal between the two companies, Intelsat said in a news release Tuesday.

LeoSat signed a contact with its first customer, an unnamed financial trading company with offices globally, LeoSat said in a news release Tuesday. It said the planned network of low earth orbit satellites will bring low latency, averaging less than 93 milliseconds from London to Tokyo and less than 119 milliseconds from London to Singapore. "We are excited to be in a position to announce our first customer almost four years ahead of the commercial launch of our system and while doing so, also venture into a market sector where traditional satellite systems have never had any suitable product offering," said LeoSat Chief Commercial Officer Ronald van der Breggen.