SiriusXM “won’t stand still” on connected vehicles, Chief Financial Officer David Frear told the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Leveraged Finance Conference webcast Wednesday from Boca Raton, Florida. SiriusXM believes there's a “content offensive that we can do with connected vehicle,” Frear said. “There is also a direct marketing offensive that we can do with connected car,” which the company thinks is “a great upside for the business,” he said. Frear sidestepped mention of the company’s SXM17 connected-car initiative, which in the past has been described as a multiyear project to bring two-way connectivity to the vehicle using satellite delivery and streaming (see 1504280044). SiriusXM CEO Jim Meyer has said the company would have more to say about SXM17 at CES (see 1509170042).

Dish and Sinclair ended their retransmission dispute and signed a retrans consent agreement, ending a complaint Dish filed against Sinclair in August, Dish said in an FCC filing Nov. 25 in docket 12-1. Dish and Sinclair were at loggerheads in negotiations and Dish customers were facing blackouts of 152 local channels in 79 markets (see 1508170031).

Insurer Anthem is seeking FCC International Bureau authorization for a fixed-satellite service very small aperture terminal (VSAT) network to provide two-way broadband data communications among its business units and affiliated service and support organizations. In an IB filing Tuesday, Anthem said the VSAT network will use geostationary Ku-band satellites with earth station uplinks in the 14-14.5 GHz band and downlinks in the 11.7-12.2 band.

Arianespace will launch Azercosmos' and Intelsat's Azerspace-2/Intelsat 38 telecom satellite in 2017 aboard an Ariane 5 rocket, Arianespace said in a news release Wednesday. The satellite will orbit at 45 degrees east and provide direct-to-home services for Azercosmos customers in Europe, Central and South Asia, the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa, and continuity of service for Intelsat 12, plus connectivity to Intelsat for corporate network and government applications in Africa, Arianespace said. The satellite is to be designed and built by Space Systems/Loral, the launch company said.

Intelsat is seeking 30 additional days to drift its Intelsat 16 satellite from 76.2 degrees west to 58.1 degrees west. In an FCC International Bureau filing Monday, Intelsat said an unspecified "unexpected delay" caused a late start to drift, which previously had been expected to begin Nov. 4 (see 1509280024), so it needed an extension through Jan. 2 in its special temporary authority.

Centerbridge Partners, a LightSquared investor, is lobbying the FCC for approval of license transfers that would let the satellite company emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In an ex parte filing posted Friday in docket 15-126, Centerbridge said it had conversations with aides to Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel about the license transfers. With them, Centerbridge said, LightSquared "would be able to emerge from bankruptcy fully capitalized and in a strong position to work with affected stakeholders to put the vital mid-band spectrum to use in delivering broadband to consumers." LightSquared's plan for emerging from bankruptcy includes a Dec. 15 deadline (see 1511090031).

Space Systems Loral (SSL) will build Telstar 19 Vantage, a high-throughput communications satellite, for Telesat, SSL said in a news release. Telstar 19 Vantage will have two high throughput payloads, one each in Ka- and Ku-band, to serve the Caribbean, Latin American, North Atlantic and Northern Canadian markets, it said. The satellite will operate at 63 west degrees, SSL said Wednesday.

The World Radiocommunication Conference agreed to set aside 1427-1518 MHz for international mobile telecom (IMT) use, with delegates to the conference in Geneva asking ITU-Radiocommunication (ITU-R) to come up with the technical measures for ensuring compatibility with mobile satellite service (MSS) operations in the adjacent 1518-1559 MHz band, satellite organizations said in a news release Friday. In C-band, downlink frequencies of 3400-3600 were identified for IMT use in Regions 1 and 2, while in Region 3 some countries will sign a footnote allowing possible IMT use of the spectrum, while others will keep it solely for satellite use, said the groups, including Global VSAT Forum, Satellite Industry Association, Society of Satellite Professionals International and World Teleport Association. A "no change" position was taken on the 3600-4200 MHz band, except for a footnote in Region 2 naming IMT for a few countries in the 3600-3700 MHz band, they said. WRC delegates also shot down a proposal for IMT use of C-band uplink frequencies 5925-6425 MHz for IMT, they said. WRC-15 also set aside some additional spectrum for fixed satellite service (FSS) use: 13.4-13.65 GHz in Region 1 and 14.5-14.8 GHz in several countries, SES said. WRC-15 declined to put globally harmonized bands for FSS, MSS or broadcast satellite service in the C, Ka or Ku bands into a WRC-19 agenda item on new frequency bands for IMT/5G use, the groups said. It also adopted rules to facilitate Earth Stations in Motion (ESIM) in part of Ka-band, allowing better global roaming of maritime and aeronautical terminals while protecting other service and applications from interference, and adopted agenda items for future conferences including the study of additional FSS spectrum at 51.4-52.4 GHz for WRC-19 and additional satellite spectrum in the 37.5-39.5 GHz band for WRC-23, they said. The U.S. delegation to WRC-15 plans to publicly announce and discuss WRC-15 decisions Monday.

A variety of satellite companies agree with the FCC's tentative conclusion that existing direct broadcast satellite feeder link earth stations should be grandfathered on proposed rules to mitigate potential ground-path interference between those earth stations and broadcast satellite service (BSS) subscriber earth stations receiving signals in the same 17.3-17.7 GHz band. While there are few such DBS feeder link facilities, AT&T said in comments filed Wednesday in docket 06-123, "they play a critical role in the delivery of video programming to millions of viewers and must be able to continue operating as they were designed to do under the rules in force when they were licensed." AT&T, EchoStar and Dish Network jointly and SES Americom responded (see here and here) to an International Bureau public notice last month seeking updated comments on the proposed ground path interference rules (see 1510080043). SES said it continues to believe limited changes should be allowable at such DBS facilities without a loss of grandfather status. AT&T said DirecTV previously had backed creation of a "non-protection zone" around such grandfathered sites, but it now agrees with SES and EchoStar that such a buffer zone isn't needed as BSS operators starting service near an existing grandfathered site "should make their own determination as to where their potential subscribers would not be subject to excessive levels of interference from the existing site." AT&T bought DirecTV. There also was broad agreement from filers for requiring coordination between new DBS feeder link facilities and 17/24 GHz BSS providers. Instead of set limits on the siting of, shielding for or equivalent isotropically radiated power at such new facilities, the parties involved in coordination should decide that themselves, SES said. AT&T also said it changed its mind about requiring DBS operators to put new uplink facilities in low-population density areas because the coordination and shield requirements proposed mean such a requirement isn't needed. "Those DBS providers who elect to place new uplink facilities in an area not considered 'remote' or exceeding some population threshold will need to manage the (potentially more burdensome) coordination required," it said. SES said one area where it has changed its views since the FCC originally took comments on proposed rules in 2007 is that it now leans toward using 5 dB as a link performance margin when determining coordination zones, instead of a proposed 2 dB -- a figure SES called "too conservative ... not reflect[ing] realistic operational data."

Proposed changes to FCC Part 25 rules are aimed at streamlining the satellite license approval process, "significantly reducing regulatory burdens and costs," Chairman Tom Wheeler said in a blog Wednesday. The changes -- docket 12-267 -- "streamlines, clarifies, eliminates or amends rules to allow for more operational flexibility and better accommodates evolving technology while easing administrative burdens on licensees and Commission staff," Wheeler said. The Part 25 rule changes are on the agenda for the Dec. 17 FCC meeting, as is an order on a petition from USTelecom seeking forbearance from some categories of statutory and FCC requirements that apply to ILECs (see 1511250047). "These rules were adopted to protect or expand competition, but technological and market conditions have changed dramatically, making many of these rules outdated," Wheeler said. "Removing them will promote the ability of local phone companies to build out broadband and invest in modern and efficient networks [while preserving] rules that remain necessary to protect consumers and competition."