Hughes Network Systems said U.S. military would begin beta testing of Spaceway broadband satellite service under Wideband Gapfiller satellite contract. New Ka-band platform is expected to be available in 2003 and satellites in system will be built by Boeing. Service has potential to transmit and receive information up to 100 times faster than telephone lines, Hughes said.
Financials: Univision profit grew to $35 million in quarter ended Dec. 31 from $31.3 million year ago and revenue to $238.9 million from $205.3 million… Ackerley Group broadcast operating loss deepened to $29 million in quarter ended Dec. 31 from $21.5 million loss year earlier. However, broadcast revenue increased to $38.7 million from $31.2 million.
Minority Media & Telecom Council plans seminar on FCC’s FM auction, scheduled to begin May 9. March 7-9 seminar is at Commerce Dept. hq in Washington -- 202-332-0500.
Rock Hill, S.C., Telephone & Cable TV communications service provider, selected Pioneer as vendor-of-choice for its set-tops and interactive program guide. Pioneer said Rock Hill would be deploying its Voyager digital set-tops and Passport navigation software, combining installation with consumer promotion program beginning in March.
Bill introduced in N.M. Senate (SB-262) would prohibit Public Regulation Commission from approving sales of sub-par telephone exchange facilities by large telcos. It would require that, for telcos with more than 80,000 lines, exchange facilities up for sale must meet same quality standards on system capabilities, technologies and performance as selling company’s largest N.M. exchange. Sponsor, state Sen. Timothy Jennings (R), said bill was meant to prevent telcos from neglecting exchanges in expectation they could dump them onto another telco.
FCC Wireless Bureau is seeking comment on waiver request from 800 MHz specialized mobile radio (SMR) service licensee who wants to lease air time capacity to Nextel in L.A. Licensee James Kay is seeking waiver to enter into proposed air time retransmission capacity agreement with Nextel of Cal. Nextel, under agreement, would have access to capacity on Kay’s L.A. and Orange County (Cal.) SMR stations licensed on certain 800 MHz business and land transportation channels. Kay told FCC he would retain licenses, making available to Nextel all air time capacity that was available under licenses. Nextel, in turn, would agree to comply with FCC policies that govern licenses. Commission has been contemplating such leasing arrangements in proposed rulemaking on how to foster secondary market for wireless spectrum. Bureau is accepting comments to Feb. 27, with replies March 9.
Michael Howard, ex-Imation, named pres.-gen. mgr., N. American telecom headquarters, Coherent Networks International… Juan Villalonga, ex-Telefonica, elected to Univision Communications board… Dominique Telson promoted to vp-original programming, Showtime Networks… John Palmer advanced to gen. mgr., Group W Network Services Minneapolis, succeeding Mark Durenberger, retiring… Elected to infoUSA board: Former Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.) and Rob Chandra, Trust Co. of the West; replacing Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) and Charles Fote, First Data Resources, resigned.
FCC can help settle Ka-band spectrum debate by ruling against VisionStar-EchoStar license transfer, rivals TRW and Pegasus said in petitions filed with Commission last week. Pegasus Vp John Hane said proposal “violated trafficking laws” that prohibit satellite companies from selling licenses before launching satellites and operating system. Pegasus and TRW want VisionStar orbital slot made available for reassignment in 2nd Ka-band processing round. VisionStar slot at 113 degrees W is next to slots owned by EchoStar. Hane said: “You're not supposed to sell a satellite license you received for free for profit If the FCC denies this petition along with the Motorola-Teledesic transfer, the 2nd round allocation dispute can be resolved.” CAI Wireless, DirectCom, Hughes, Motorola, PanAmSat and WildBlue are among companies seeking Ka-band slots in 2nd round (CD Feb 1 p2).
AT&T Wireless completed purchase of $200 million of preferred stock in Dobson Communications. If that series of preferred stock were exchanged into convertible preferred, AT&T Wireless would increase its stake in Dobson to 11.8% from 4.6%. Dobson and AT&T Wireless are equal owners of joint venture that bought American Cellular last year.
AT&T is seeking to use FCC’s recent approval of AOL takeover of Time Warner to aid company’s crusade against govt.’s cable ownership limits and attribution rules. In letter to U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., which is reviewing ownership limits, AT&T argued that FCC’s approval buttressed company’s claim that Commission’s cable attribution rules were “arbitrary, capricious and unlawful” because they applied “to ownership interests that have merely the potential to lead to influence, rather than only to those interests that actually confer influence or control over programming decisions of a third party.” AT&T said FCC, in okaying AOL-Time Warner deal, concluded that AOL’s nonvoting interest in DirecTV was not attributable and thus did not have to be shed by AOL, after applying “the very standard that it had disavowed” in AT&T’s case. AT&T declared that its minority, nonvoting stakes in Time Warner Entertainment (TWE) and other MSOs, like AOL’s stake in DirecTV, shouldn’t be attributed to it because it had no influence or control over their programming decisions. Because of FCC’s interpretation of attribution rules, AT&T must shed its stake in either TWE or in Liberty Media and other programmers because it otherwise would exceed cable ownership cap.