Proposed revision of direct broadcast satellite rules is an opportunity to tackle broader issues of 12 GHz band use, filers said in docket 06-160 comments this week. The FCC adopted an NPRM in November on expanding the streamlined processing procedures for geostationary fixed satellite service to DBS (see 1811130075). Replies are due April 22. The MVDDS 5G Coalition said the FCC should keep in mind potential use of the band for two-way wireless services. It urged an NPRM in response to its 2016 petition for such service in the 12 GHz band (see 1604260068). Dish Network is part of the coalition. MDS Operations and RS Access backed the petition and said the agency needs to be sure to protect multichannel video distribution and data service operations. SES supports the FCC proposals, and said once those are instituted, the agency should lift the 13-plus-year freeze on new DBS applications. It said the agency should seek input on allowing fixed satellite service downlinks to operate in the DBS allocation of the 12 GHz band. Barring that, the agency should at least make clear FSS applicants can seek authority at or near DBS plan assignments at 148 degrees, 157 degrees, 166 degrees and 175 degrees west, all vacant, SES said. DirecTV parent AT&T said if the agency lifts the freeze, it should condition that any new DBS licensees at reduced orbital spacing must coordinate with all DBS operators within six degrees instead of requiring operator consent only from affected operators as determined by ITU criteria. AT&T backs extending the license term for nonbroadcast DBS satellites to 15 years and said the agency automatically should revise the license terms of existing DBS satellites consistent with that proposal. Dish and EchoStar said DBS satellites should operate in orbital slots with less than 9 degree orbital spacing as long as such "tweener" applicants do an interference analysis and get OK of existing DBS operators with satellites located less than 9 degrees away. Dish/EchoStar said some Part 25 rules revisions the agency has made for geostationary FSS operations should also apply to DBS, such as the 15-year license term and first-come, first-served GSO application review process. They said DBS should have the same GSO milestone requirements minus the surety bond requirement. The companies said the FCC should seek comment on an aggregate interference limit that would protect DBS systems and MVDDS licensees from tweener DBS operations.
Matt Daneman
Matt Daneman, Senior Editor, covers pay TV, cable broadband, satellite, and video issues and the Federal Communications Commission for Communications Daily. He joined Warren Communications in 2015 after more than 15 years at the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, where he covered business among other issues. He also was a correspondent for USA Today. You can follow Daneman on Twitter: @mdaneman
Facing issues like rapidly growing content costs, cable operators said the inflection point where some systems might get out of the video business is coming closer, though that won't happen in the next year or two. The decision on video will be based on profit margin, "and for a lot of guys, it's [already] little or none," said Vast Broadband CEO Jim Gleason.
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr's focus on clearing more than 200 MHz of the 3.7-4.2 GHz band "is a clear signal" opposition to the C-Band Alliance band-clearing plan "is gaining momentum," New Street Research's Blair Levin wrote investors Thursday. Carr at WISPAmerica in Cincinnati said the FCC "can do better" than 200 MHz and his focus is on those approaches, hoping for a 2019 order. Levin said Carr's comments will boost rival proposals, such as those by T-Mobile or from cable operators, and pressure the CBA to rework its plan. The analyst said Carr's comments point to "the goal lines for completion" of an order being later than Q2 or early Q3. CBA emailed us that its 200 MHz clearing plan "is centered by what can be delivered in 18 to 36 months from an FCC order, which we believe to be the fastest by a matter of years as compared to any other alternative. We have indicated that as compression technologies improve, we may be able to clear more, but over time [and that] the FCC wants to protect existing customers in this proceeding. ... Given that our satellite signals blanket the U.S. ubiquitously, and cannot be ‘turned off’ in cities, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to deploy a solution that results in cities having more cleared spectrum than suburban and rural areas." Commissioner Mike O'Rielly Wednesday said he would like 400 to 500 MHz to be freed up, but he considers 200 to 300 MHz more realistic (see 1903200009). American Enterprise Institute Visiting Fellow Daniel Lyons blogged Thursday that the advantage of the market-based CBA approach is speed, likely clearing spectrum faster than an incentive auction. He said it's likely a more efficient approach, with buyers and sellers negotiating directly. He said the argument the CBA approach would be a windfall for satellite operators "is somewhat overblown" since they'll bear repacking costs including new satellites, but financial gains for those operators provide incentive to make more spectrum available, which ultimately benefits consumers. CBA told us it was unaware Lyons was writing the piece and didn't compensate him.
Beyond the FCC's April 12 vote on axing its requirement cable operators maintain hard copies of their channel lineups in their local offices (see 1903210062), the agency's current look at leased access revision, electronic delivery of notices to cable customers and the scope of local franchise authorities is aimed at "ultimately delivering a more modernized set of regulations," Chairman Ajit Pai told America's Communications Association members Thursday. He didn't give specifics on timing. Two eighth-floor officials also told us timing of those other media modernization items isn't clear.
After a "disappointing" outcome from its challenge of AT&T's buy of Time Warner, DOJ will seek court approval to bifurcate some antitrust trials into liability and remedy phases, agency antitrust chief Makan Delrahim said at the annual summit of America's Communication Association -- formerly the American Cable Association (see 1903200021). "It's never fun to lose, but you learn more from losing than from winning," Delrahim said. Separately, FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly criticized Justice for not updating its media market definitions from what he said were antiquated silos.
The FCC doesn't go far enough in proposed unified licensing for satellites and earth stations in the same geostationary orbit (GSO) network, satellite operators and allies said in docket 18-314 comments this week. Many backed other agency suggestions for streamlining Part 25 rules. One area of contention is a proposal to allow applicants to correct application omissions or errors without losing their place in line. Replies are due April 16.
The FCC isn't expected to act at least before summer on revamping its cable leased access proceeding despite eighth-floor lobbying by the cable industry in recent days (see 1903120070). A cable official told us nothing is expected for April’s agenda. An FCC official said May also seems unlikely and the Media Bureau still seems to be gathering information. The agency and NCTA didn’t comment.
Neither Charter customers nor the Competitive Enterprise Institute has standing to challenge the broadband network overbuild conditions the FCC put on the company's buys of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks or the agency order rejecting CEI's petition for reconsideration, the regulator said in a docket 18-1281 appellee brief Thursday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The named individual customer appellants either didn't have higher monthly broadband bills or haven't shown their higher bills are due to the overbuild requirements, and they never took part in the agency proceeding, so denying their petition was well within its rules, the FCC said. CEI hasn't shown a link between its supporters and the outcome of this litigation and hasn't identified a member with a concrete injury, it said. Sam Kazman, general counsel for CEI -- which argued the FCC abused its discretion (see 1901150049) -- told us Friday the agency focus on standing wasn't unexpected and is indicative of wanting to avoid discussion of the merits about conditions "to infinity and beyond." He hopes the court "will see through that ruse."
Satellite operators and others are at odds over where to allow communications between earth stations in motion (ESIM) and non-geostationary orbit satellites (NGSO) operating in fixed satellite service (FSS). There are schisms over the 12 GHz band and parts of the Ka band, in docket 18-315 replies Wednesday and Thursday. Boeing backs ESIM operations with NGSO FSS systems in the NPRM-identified bands and in additional FSS allocations. It urged the agency reject co-equal status for ESIMs operating with NGSO FSS and GSO FSS systems in the 18.8-19.3 and 28.6-29.1 GHz bands because that would prejudice the rights of future NGSO FSS systems. OneWeb backs extending ESIM operations into other bands, including the V band and 12 GHz band. It said given its propagation characteristics, V "is well-positioned to become a critical component" of NGSO FSS services to mobile platforms. Telesat Canada said the 12.2-12.7 GHz band has no allocation to FSS and is outside the NPRM's scope. Intelsat supports NGSO ESIM operations in the 12 GHz and other bands on condition NGSOs don't interfere with or claim protection from GSO networks. ViaSat said allowing NGSO FSS ESIM access in spectrum where ESIM deployment is compatible with primary allocated services, such as in the 27.7-28.35 GHz band, would help increase sharing. But the MVDDS 5G Coalition said allowing ESIM/NGSO communications in the 12 GHz band "would ... imperil 5G services," and there are alternative bands for such communications. ESIM operations into 12 GHz "would introduce a number of problems," such as "upend[ing] the delicate balance" among the co-primary services authorized in the band -- multichannel video distribution and data service, NGSO FSS and direct broadcast satellite, echoed MDS Operations and RS Access. They said ESIM/NGSO links in 12 GHz would create coordination problems for incumbent licensees. Iridium said allowing opening the 19.4-19.6 GHz band and the 27.5-30 GHz bands to NGSO FSS systems is "ill-advised" and falls outside the rulemaking's scope. Backing NGSO ESIMs in 27.5-30 GHz, SES/O3b said more FSS frequencies available for NGSO ESIMs will increase mobile capacity. SES/O3b said the FCC should consider NGSO ESIM issues in any future proceeding coming up with service rules for V-band FSS, and that would be timely since the agency has authorized some NGSO operators to use the band. Hughes asked if the FCC allows ESIMs to communicate with geostationary operations in 18.8-19.3 and 28.6-29.1 GHz, clarify those GSO operations are secondary to NGSO operations in the U.S. and co-primary elsewhere.
Administration debates over spectrum use for satellite vs. 5G "have been intense," Commerce Department Office of Space Commerce Director Kevin O'Connell said in Senate Commerce Committee testimony Wednesday. He said a worry on the space side is protecting taxpayer investments in federal capabilities like GPS and weather prediction via NOAA satellites, and Commerce wants to ensure the space community has an advocate while a 5G strategy is formulated.