Advanced Television

FCC

FCC approves Dish/EchoStar licence transfers

The FCC has approved the transfer of control of Dish Network and its subsidiaries to EchoStar Corp. The FCC, and the bureaux under its supervision (the Office of Engineering & Technology, the Space Bureau, the Wireless Telecommunications) allowed the transfer of its broadcast and transmission licences. The FCC order includes those terrestrial licences for Dish’s […]

December 7, 2023By Chris Forrester

SpaceX Starship Test 3 part-licensed

Communication permissions for Elon Musk’s third test flight of the SpaceX Starship has been issued by the FCC. The communications licence covers a period from December 1st to January 6th 2024. The formal communications licence was issued to SpaceX on November 28th, but is not permission to actually launch. Those final permissions will come from […]

December 4, 2023By Chris Forrester

Bank trims SES expectations

A report on satellite operator SES from investment bank Berenberg maintains its ‘BUY’ recommendation, but the report has cut the bank’s share price target from €9.20 to a much more modest €7.20. The SES share price on November 28th was €5.40. The Berenberg report, Rebase done; Now on to returns, says it expects SES too […]

November 29, 2023

Intelsat responds to SES’s “bombastic brief”

SES might have received the FCC’s $3 billion (€2.76bn) in compensation for handing over its C-band satellite frequencies in October 2023. But the long-running arguments over how the FCC’s overall compensation was allocated continue to resonate between SES and Intelsat. Lawyers for SES filed their argument to Intelsat’s bankruptcy court on September 28th seeking about […]

November 15, 2023By Chris Forrester

Boeing scraps plans for super-constellation

Two years ago Boeing received a licence from the FCC for a satellite broadband mega-constellation of 147 low Earth orbiting satellites. It has now cancelled its scheme. Boeing’s initial scheme – formally proposed in 2017 – was for a V-band constellation of 132 satellites operating ln Low-Earth Orbit and 15 non-Geostationary orbiting craft to supply […]

October 31, 2023

FCC authorises $18bn to expand US rural broadband

The Federal Communications Commission has issued a Public Notice that authorises approximately $18.28 billion (€17.1bn) in Enhanced Alternative Connect America Cost Model (Enhanced A-CAM) support for carriers that have accepted the offer of Enhanced A-CAM support in the states identified in its Authorisation Report for a 15-year period beginning January 1st 2024.  Collectively, these companies […]

October 31, 2023

FCC: Net neutrality ‘returns’

The Federal Communications Commission has voted 3-2 to begin the process of standing back up broadband as a Title II telecommunications service subject to some common-carrier regulations and restoring rules against blocking, throttling and paid prioritization. “Today, there is no expert agency ensuring that the internet is fast, open, and fair… for everyone, everywhere to […]

October 20, 2023

Airtel Xstream Play hits 5m subs

Bharti Airtel, the Indian telco, has announced that its video streaming service, Airtel Xstream Play, has crossed the five million paid subscriber mark and continues to be the fastest growing OTT aggregator in the country. Airtel Xstream Play offers a bouquet of OTT content aggregated on a single app. Customers have access to content from […]

October 20, 2023

DISH Network bandwidth extension likely

Charlie Ergen’ DISH Network looks like it will be granted an 800 MHz extension to its existing licensed 5G bandwidth over much of the US. The extension will come about because of a Licence Transfer deal with T-Mobile. In a recent filing with the US District Court for the District of Columbia, DISH has argued […]

October 20, 2023By Chris Forrester

FCC demands cablecos compensate black-outs

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is proposing to make US cable and satellite operators inform the agency if a channel has gone dark for an extended period due to a retransmission dispute, and to refund subscribers for those extended blackouts. Chair Jessica Rosenworcel has circulated notices of proposed rulemakings (NPRMs) to that effect to fellow […]

October 12, 2023