The bankruptcies of S-band licensees DBSD and TerreStar and potential FCC action opening the spectrum to increased terrestrial service could mean several S-band satellites will be for sale in coming years. Currently, the two companies have a total of three satellites. Each has one geosynchronous in-orbit satellite and TerreStar has another nearly completed satellite on the ground. While much depends on how the FCC decides to handle the spectrum, TerreStar’s grounded satellite is likely more valuable than the in-orbit ones, officials said. The FCC isn’t expected to decide on the 2 GHz band spectrum for at least a year (CD Oct 27 p9). ProtoStar, which auctioned its two in-orbit satellites to Intelsat and SES as part of its bankruptcy last year, was able to raise some $395 million for its satellites, though the satellites had much broader uses.

Companies like Verizon and AT&T are asking state regulators for permission to stop delivering paper residential white pages, citing cost saving, changed consumer behavior and environmental reasons. Instead, the directories would be available online, printed upon request or provided on CD.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., wants Congress to fix TV and protect consumers, he said Wednesday afternoon. A broken retransmission consent system is just one “symptom” of the problem, the Commerce Committee chairman told a Senate Communications Subcommittee hearing. While open to revising retrans rules, Subcommittee Ranking Member John Ensign, R-Nev., said he wouldn’t support government-required arbitration as envisioned in a draft bill by Subcommittee Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass.

Another 500 MHz of spectrum for wireless broadband won’t meet exploding demand without changes in how carriers use spectrum, former FCC Office of Engineering Technology Chief Dale Hatfield warned. In a speech at an Information Technology and Innovation Foundation event late Tuesday on the future of digital communications, he also said the commission needs to put more focus on how wireline and wireless solutions can work together to solve the spectrum crisis. “It’s not going to be enough,” Hatfield said. “If the government finds 500 MHz, we're going to chew that bandwidth up really, really, really fast. That’s sort of the challenge, if you will.”

Industry, public interest advocates and telecom regulators shouldn’t wait for a new Telecommunications Act and should instead focus on incremental, data-driven reform of spectrum and intercarrier compensation, FCC Commissioner Meredith Baker told a Federal Communications Bar Association luncheon in Washington Wednesday.

The FCC still plans to move forward on net neutrality rules, Chairman Julius Genachowski said Wednesday without specifying the timing or the legal basis. “We have terrific, smart lawyers trying to figure out the best way, the best basis on which we can rest rules, number one” he said at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco. “That will happen. The other thing is, we've been doing a lot of work to make sure we get the rules right,” so they promote “innovation and investment throughout the ecosystem.”

Net neutrality rules and an open telecommunications infrastructure were urged by FCC Commissioner Michael Copps, Democratic State Representative Antonio Maestas of New Mexico and Chief Geoffrey Blackwell of the FCC Office of Native Affairs and Policy. They spoke Tuesday at a Free Press-sponsored public hearing in Albuquerque. New Mexico ranks 47th in broadband access.

A spate of small and mid-sized cable system deals likely will continue as financing increasingly becomes available, private-equity firms eye more mergers and acquisitions, and existing operators buy other operators, said all the executives and brokers we interviewed. The major deals, some for tens of billions of dollars at peak valuations, that occurred in the late 1990s and early part of last decade probably are a thing of the past, they said. The drought of major deals for cable networks seems likely to continue, industry officials predicted. At the time of our last cable M&A survey, deal activity had just begun picking up (CD May 3 p4).

House Commerce Committee Ranking Member Joe Barton, R-Texas, got support Wednesday from Reps. Cliff Stearns of Florida, John Shimkus of Illinois and six others committee Republicans. His main opponent for the job, Rep. Fred Upton, D-Mich., meanwhile, claimed support of another committee member, Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C. With Republicans considering GOP caucus rule changes this week, Barton faces opposition from the GOP Transition Committee in attempts to change the interpretation of a committee leadership term-limit rule that could prevent him from becoming chairman next year.

A group of TerreStar affiliates won court approval of a large loan from EchoStar, allowing the bankrupt mobile satellite services provider to continue operation for the immediate future. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan approved the $75 million debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing despite complaints from several creditors over the terms of the financing. EchoStar is also backstopping a $100 million rights offering.