Dish Network will pick up some EchoStar assets, including its 10 percent of Sling TV and wireless spectrum licenses covering four markets in the 28 GHz band, in exchange for Dish's 80 percent economic interest in Hughes Retail Group held in the form of a tracking stock, Dish said in a news release Tuesday. Dish said it also will take over EchoStar Technologies' hardware and software development group, its managed fiber backhaul network serving all U.S. designated market areas, its national and regional uplink business, over-the-top development group and some real estate properties. Dish said it will still market EchoStar satellite broadband under the brand dishNET to rural customers. It said the deal is expected to close in Q1. The deal vertically integrates "all the elements that define our customer experience -- one team will deliver the full DISH and Sling TV experience end to end," Dish President Erik Carlson said. "Not only do we gain full control of product development roadmap for DBS and Sling TV but we also anticipate achieving operational efficiencies." In a note to investors Tuesday, Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker said the motivation for the swap is unclear, "but our gut tells us Charlie [Ergen, Dish and EchoStar chairman,] is cleaning these two companies up for a reason … perhaps this could be related to something transformative post the broadcast incentive auction."

The consumer handheld satellite phone market will likely raise equipment prices or boost average revenue per user as major players look to compete with the land-mobile market, said Northern Sky Research Research Director Claude Rousseau in a NSR blog post Wednesday. He said the consumer handheld market -- targeting outdoors enthusiasts, remote workers and emergency services -- is expected to exceed 1 million in-service units by 2026. By trying to expand into new markets, the equipment will have to add features that will add to the expense, NSR said. It said Globalstar still dominates the consumer handheld market with its Spot products, and it -- plus Iridium's InReach and Thuraya SatSleeve -- could reach the 1 million mark.

Nielsen and AT&T signed a multiyear agreement letting the ratings firm use anonymized set-top box data from DirecTV and U-verse subscribers in its local and national TV currency ratings services. Nielsen in a release Wednesday said the data will be used in its local and national TV measurement services and also will be incorporated with data from other providers to complement its national and local products.

The National Advertising Division says Charter Communications agrees with it that some broadcast ads targeting AT&T-owned DirecTV's offerings and pricing should be pulled as unsubstantiated, NAD said. In a news release Monday, the investigative unit of the ad industry’s self-regulation system said Charter could support claims in the series of commercials challenged by DirecTV that referred to the satellite company's promotional pricing. The ads featured comic actor Kevin Nealon as captain of a "'Satellite TV Headquarters' space station." Charter didn't comment.

Opposition by a class-action litigation plaintiff to DirecTV's motion to compel arbitration doesn't respond to any DirecTV arguments why the arbitration clause in her customer agreement isn't valid, the company said in a memorandum filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. Plaintiff Doneyda Perez said she never agreed to arbitrate claims but formed a binding arbitration agreement by using and paying for DirecTV and by signing her equipment lease agreement, the satellite company said. It recounted that the decision in Joaquin v. DirecTV, involving identical claims, said it also was within the scope of the DirecTV arbitration agreement. Perez, who owns an Orange County, California, beauty salon, alleges DirecTV seeks out small-business owners to sell its satellite-TV service for use in their business, designates those accounts as residential, and then later accuses them of pirating signals. Counsel for Perez didn't comment Monday.

Iridium's L-band Next satellite constellation could end up integrated into a number of Ka- and Ka-band constellations, providing a backup data route, CEO Matt Desch said Wednesday at a Wells Fargo investor conference. Satellite operators like OneWeb, SES and Intelsat "see us as a complement for them, a potential partner" with integrated networks, Desch said. He said given that OneWeb doesn't provide safety services and its bent pipe configuration means it has only spotty coverage until its entire satellite network is built out, dual-mode Iridium and OneWeb terminals could make sense. OneWeb didn't comment. Desch also said the company expects the first launch of its Next satellite constellation -- delayed by a September explosion during a preflight ignition test (see 1610270015) -- to come in December. After that 10-satellite launch, a second launch of 10 satellites should follow in about 90 days, he said, with the entire constellation in orbit by early 2018. Iridium's existing 800,000-plus subscribers won't notice any transition to the Next constellation, with satellites with longer design lives, more channels and higher waveforms than the current constellation, Desch said. He said the company will focus on such markets as safety services and maritime and aviation connectivity, staying away from the broadband mass market, which will see sizable amounts of capacity becoming available in the next five years. Desch also defended the company against criticisms by L-band rival Inmarsat that Iridium has overstated the data speeds Next could provide, saying such companies as Rockwell and L-3 wouldn't be building terminals for it if there was no market.

Among potential EchoStar concerns as the company reported quarterly results Tuesday are some FCC and other regulatory proceedings, along with business issues relating to its devices. "Our customers face emerging competition from other providers of digital media and potential government action preventing them from using security systems in connection with set-top boxes," the company said in an SEC filing, which noted that Dish Network is a top customer; both companies are controlled by their Chairman Charlie Ergen. "The FCC is considering adopting regulations enabling consumer electronics manufacturers, innovators and other developers to build devices or software solutions that may provide access to multichannel video programming with the use of user interfaces and without the use of any set-top box." That unlock-the-box proceeding has encountered slow going, with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler just before commissioners' Sept. 29 monthly meeting putting off a vote on a draft order. Discussions have been continuing (see 1610180052). Demand for EchoStar's satellite TV digital set-tops from Dish and other customers "will likely continue to decline and we may not be able to sustain our current revenue levels," it said. In July, the company wrote, it decided to end offering consumer security and home automation products and services that were introduced this year. In a section of its filing on risks, the FCC set-top proceeding and spectrum frontiers order were cited, as some of the Ka-band spectrum where EchoStar operates broadband gateway earth stations has been enabled for 5G. Other countries "are also considering regulations that could limit access to the Ka band," EchoStar noted. Carriers and satellite interests aren't in full agreement on technical rules related to an ongoing spectrum frontiers proceeding (see 1611010044). The company didn't immediately comment further to us Tuesday. For Q3, the set-top maker reported that sales fell 2.4 percent to $742.3 million from the year-ago quarter as profit rose 32 percent to $37.4 million. In a quarter that was largely as expected, Hughes broadband subscribership declined by about 12,000 to 1.02 million "as the firm’s satellites have reached capacity in certain areas," Citigroup analysts wrote investors. "Citi forecasts flat subscriber growth for the year."

EchoStar's Jupiter 2 multi-spot beam Ka-band satellite arrived at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for launch, Space Systems Loral said in a news release Monday. SSL said it designed and built the satellite for EchoStar and it will increase capacity for the company's HughesNet high-speed satellite broadband service in North America.

About 1,100 DirecTV workers represented by the Communications Workers of America ratified two agreements between the CWA and AT&T, which now owns DirecTV, said a news release Monday. The accords cover about 200 Midwest employees and about 900 in the Southwest and put those workers under existing contracts in those regions, CWA said.

U.S. District Judge Lorna Schofield in Manhattan gave additional time for settlement talks in a class-action lawsuit against Dish Network and background check company Sterling Infosystems. In an order (in Pacer) Wednesday, Schofield signed off on a stipulation by the companies and the plaintiffs saying compilation of a settlement class list took longer than expected and Sterling needs authorization to provide the available class member address information to the settlement administrator. The motion deadline for final settlement approval is now Jan. 23, instead of Jan. 9, and the final approval hearing is to be Jan. 31, instead of Jan. 17. The 2012 suit alleges Dish and Sterling violated the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act in using credit reports to do background checks on prospective employees or subcontractors (see 1512160017).