Daniel Warren

Global Digital Inclusion Partnership launches fellowship program, with Robert Pepper, ex-FCC and Facebook, and Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka of South Africa as inaugural senior fellows ... Jason Kim, ex-Millennium Space Systems, named CEO of Firefly Aerospace.

Viasat names Gary Chase, ex-Delta Air lines, as CFO ... RFMW, provider of radio frequency, microwave and power components, promotes Mike Carroll to senior vice president-global sales.

Scott Agnew replaces Jim Bugel as AT&T president-FirstNet, effective Sept. 1 ... Ryan Mulhall promoted by Governor Kim Reynolds (R) to executive director, Iowa Communications Network... Dan Domenech, American Association of School Administrators, resigns from the USAC board, effective Dec. 31... John Perrino, ex-Stanford Internet Observatory, joins the Internet Society as a senior policy and advocacy expert.

Pegasus Development Corp. still plans to offer broadcast satellite service (BSS) at 107 degrees W and 117 degrees W., it told the FCC last week. The company was responding to an Oct. 27 letter from the Satellite Div., which asked whether its plans had changed “in light of the passage of time and changed circumstances.” Pegasus is trying to offer the BSS service via modifications to fixed satellite service (FSS) licenses it won in Aug. 2001. The problem is that one of those licenses (for 2 satellites at 117 degrees) was canceled in Dec. 2003 because Pegasus failed to meet FCC construction milestones. The company retains a license for 2 FSS satellites at 107 degrees, for which it has met recent milestones. One industry source said the Commission may have to ask Pegasus to resubmit in a different form its application to modify the license at 117 degrees since there’s no longer a license to modify.

Movie and wireless content downloads were key issues at the Digital Hollywood conference in L.A. last week. Amid film studios’ concerns about unauthorized movie downloads and their retransmission over peer-to-peer networks, legitimate online distribution of films also could amount to a real boon for Hollywood, albeit one that’s at least 5 years away, speakers said. Yankee Group analyst Michael Goodman estimated the current installed U.S. base of broadband homes at 22 million. He said at current growth rates, the number of broadband homes in the U.S. would surpass those with dial- up Internet access by 2006. That, Goodman said, should increase Internet movie distribution to 7 million authorized downloads annually by 2007, generating $750 million in yearly revenue. But Sam Bloom, Blockbuster vp-business development, questioned Hollywood’s current and long-term enthusiasm for Internet distribution. “The studio economy right now doesn’t favor new technologies for film distribution,” Bloom said. The wireless industry is looking to Asia and Europe to spot trends that could foretell what forms of mobile entertainment content might trigger a business explosion in N. America. The biggest source of excitement for the mobile entertainment industry in the U.S. seems centered on games, most of which are offered as downloads for $3.50-$4.50. One Sony Digital Entertainment executive responsible for wireless services said many in his industry were encouraged that it was casual, not hard core, gamers who were driving the mobile gaming market. Michael Gallelli, dir. of content acquisition at T- Mobile, said games constituted a more attractive business model because they commanded higher average price points compared with other content options, such as downloadable ring-tones.

HOT SPRINGS, Va. -- Unmet demand in digital broadband -- for buildout to homes, for killer apps, for legislative action and for regulatory clarity -- was a theme common to several of the presentations at FCBA’s annual seminar here May 2-4. Lawmakers, FCC commissioners and industry veterans all predicted that digital services to the home would fuel the communication industry’s emergence from its current economic misery.

HOT SPRINGS, Va. -- FCC under Chmn. Powell will be “flexible” and will focus on core issues of agency organization, enforcement and spectrum management, according to staffers at FCBA Annual Seminar here over weekend. Chief of Staff Marsha MacBride said Powell wasn’t formulating specific policy positions, instead was addressing “change management” as new Commission took shape. Chief Legal Adviser Peter Tenhula also said no new rules currently were being contemplated. Rather than force agenda, he said, “our priorities are to do what we have to do when we have to do it.”