C-Band Earth Station Lump Sum Election Extended
C-band incumbent earth station operators got more time to choose whether to take the lump-sum reimbursement option as part of the FCC's band-clearing, as some had expected. The Wireless Bureau's moving the lump sum election deadline to Sept. 14 in response to a Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE) extension request left hanging a stay sought by ACA Connects and thus ACA's possible legal challenge to the FCC's lump-sum formula, we were told. ACA didn't comment.
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The extension gives incumbent earth station operators additional time "to make informed decisions" about their elections and to get the information needed for their submissions, the bureau said Thursday in a docket 18-122 order. SBE asked for an extension of the Aug. 31 deadline to Sept. 30, but two weeks is enough, the bureau said. An extension beyond that starts conflicting with other deadlines, like the Sept. 22 deadline for applicants for 3.7 GHz licenses to submit short-form applications for taking part in Auction 107, it said.
"It's not a simple calculation," especially for owners of multiple dishes, said SBE outside counsel Chris Imlay of Booth Freret.
ACA's ask for a stay of the deadline pending resolution of its request for review of the lump-sum formula and any ensuing judicial review (see 2008140033) isn't addressed in the bureau order. In a footnote in Thursday's order, the FCC said it wasn't addressing the merits of the stay petition. ACA in its petition asked for the deadline to move to Sept. 14 barring FCC approval of a full stay. Backing the ACA request, cable operators RCN, Grande, WaveDivision and Astound said they and other MVPDs "will be irreparably harmed if ... forced" to decide by Aug. 31, since the lump-sum payment formula might be ruled unlawful either by the FCC or an appellate court.
A lawyer active in the C-band clearing proceeding said ACA still benefits from the additional time in the SBE order because it could give ACA more time to go to a Circuit Court and appeal the FCC's lump-sum formula and seek a court-ordered stay until the formula issue challenge is resolved, we were told. ACA indicated it might sue.
The ACA stay request faced opposition from satellite, content and wireless corners.
ACA's ask "dramatically underestimates" how it would hurt other parties and the public interest by delaying an expeditious C-band clearing, Telesat said in a posting Wednesday. Until those elections, Telesat said its band-repacking plans "are frozen in place." Intelsat said ACA is "rehashing prior rejected arguments" in its stay request. SES said ACA members don't face irreparable harm by having to choose by Aug. 31, and incumbent earth station operators have "ample time to decide."
Knowing if earth station operators will relocate on their own or as part of satellite operator-coordinated efforts, and whether they will repack into the upper part of the band or leave the C band altogether, will affect satellite operators' transition plans and the timing and amount of relocation costs that spectrum licensees will pay, CTIA said. It said ACA's petition ignores that its members have multiple options including being made whole for their reasonable repacking costs to the 4-4.2 GHz band, AT&T and Verizon also opposed the stay, as did content companies Discovery, Fox, Disney and ViacomCBS, joining with NAB.