Tweener Satellite Rulemaking Said Imminent
An FCC rulemaking on 4.5 degrees “tweener” satellite spacing was circulating the 8th floor late last week with a Mon. vote deadline, multiple sources said. The NPRM, which Fri. had all 3 Republican commissioners’ approval, goes further than many in the DBS industry had expected, they said. Besides raising a bevy of questions that accompany the ’tweener concept, the rulemaking would grant the International Bureau authority to approve long-pending tweener applications on file. The item is “definitely more than an NPRM,” a source said.
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It’s not clear why the FCC is acting now on the tweener rulemaking -- particularly when the major DBS operators aren’t pushing for action, sources said. The Commission has been mulling whether 4.5 degrees satellite spacing could work since SES Americom filed the first ’tweener application over 4 years ago. Satellite industry officials asked the same question in June, when the Commission was said to be tying together a ’tweener NPRM and the 17 GHz “reverse DBS-band” rulemaking (CD June 7 p9). Some fear Commissioners McDowell and Tate, new to satellite regulation, won’t know what they're voting for in the tweener NPRM, we're told.
DirecTV, more of a 9 degrees traditionalist, long has opposed 4.5 degrees spacing due to interference concerns. And while EchoStar once pushed tweeners, it no longer does. EchoStar filed for tweener slots at 123.5 degrees W, 96.5 degrees W and 86.5 degrees W in 2003, but has withdrawn most of those one by one, with only the 86.5 degrees W application still active. SES Americom has an application pending for service from 105.5 degrees W. Lesser-known participant Spectrum 5 has 2 satellite applications pending for 114.5 degrees W.
Granting pending tweener petitions would be “inappropriate” even if subject to an eventual rulemaking, DirecTV said in an Aug. 8 ex parte. Tweener applicants must prove, via technical analysis, that their proposed systems could operate in Region 2, DirecTV said. Any proponent of tweener spacing must show its system -- as proposed, not as it might be updated -- can operate with systems already in the Region 2 plan, the DBS operator said. DirecTV claims it has proven filed proposals filed wouldn’t pass the test.
Spectrum 5 may be part of what’s driving the proceeding, sources said. But the firm’s plans for 114.5 degrees W, and its business plan in general, mystify many in the DBS industry. Spectrum 5 seeks authority to provide DBS satellite service in the U.S. from 2 Netherlands-licensed satellites. In a May ex parte, Spectrum 5 said it wants to deploy a state-of-the-art tweener satellite system for local- into-local and HD service. The company had said it doesn’t want to offer DBS services in the U.S. but would make its services available to other DBS providers (CD May 19/05 p12). DirecTV, EchoStar and SES Americom have voiced concern about Spectrum 5 in comments to the FCC (CD June 13/05 p12).
At the least, the FCC should set “a fairly extended comment period” for any tweener rulemaking, DirecTV said in a recent ex parte. That would allow “for a thorough engineering analysis by all concerned parties,” it said.