Complaints are increasing about alleged MVPD violations of the requirement to give subscribers a 30-day notice before a channel lineup change, but top FCC aides told us there has been no indication either FCC Chairman Ajit Pai or the Media Bureau is planning a proceeding and it's unlikely there will be one. Joseph Van Eaton of Best Best, representing communities in Arizona and Wyoming seeking a declaratory ruling that Charter violated the advance notice rule, said he expects the agency to issue a public notice soon on that petition. The FCC didn't comment. Experts and insiders said it's not clear the agency will take up or clarify the 30-day notice rule (see 1802160017).
With the FCC facing one apparent unauthorized satellite constellation put into orbit, it's unclear whether others follow. Satellite experts we talked to were split on whether the agency will need a strong response or if the launches by Swarm Technologies are clearly a mistake unlikely to be replicated. Satellite IoT connectivity startup Swarm had the first unauthorized commercial satellite launch, and there are likely few if any amateur radio service or research satellites that have gone up without authorization, said telecom tech regulatory lawyer Mitchell Lazarus of Fletcher Heald. He said it's unlikely other satellite operators will follow: "Nobody does this on purpose."
DOJ is trying to fit AT&T's buy of Time Warner, a vertical merger, into a horizontal merger hole and put the burden on the defendants to prove the case for why the deal is good, when it's up to the government to prove why it's bad, AT&T/TW outside counsel Dan Petrocelli of O'Melveny said Tuesday during evidentiary hearings on the trial's second day. He said the sides have a fundamental legal disagreement on the issue. DOJ attorney Craig Conrath said New AT&T has both positive and negative competitive effects, but the positive effects are quite small, and AT&T has to show those benefits will reach consumers.
NOAA needs to do a better job letting launch companies know that any camera in space, except for handhelds and astronomy-related cameras, require approval, Tahara Dawkins, director-Commercial Remote Sensing Regulatory Affairs Office, told us. A commercial space industry consultant said commercial launcher use of streaming video -- like SpaceX's February launch of a Falcon Heavy rocket with a payload including a Tesla car, livestreamed by SpaceX with David Bowie's "Starman" as soundtrack -- conflicts with NOAA regulations and such conflicts are likely to become more common with growth of commercial space launchers.
AT&T will move to have its DirecTV subsidiary dismissed as a defendant in the DOJ lawsuit seeking to block its Time Warner takeover, AT&T/TW outside counsel Dan Petrocelli of O'Melveny said Monday, the opening day of trial. Opening argument will be Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon of Washington said, saying the sides estimated a trial of four or so weeks, but "it's looking more like six to eight." AT&T will move for the dismissal by the time Justice has finished presenting its case, Petrocelli said.
Faced with dueling claims about subscriber departure rates if a competing video service were denied Time Warner content, questions about what horizontal merger standards apply in a vertical deal, and a host of other disputed issues, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon of Washington has a heavy adjudication workload before him in the trial of DOJ's lawsuit seeking to block AT&T/TW. That's the consensus of legal and economic experts at an American University-hosted seminar Thursday on the antitrust trial.
A big test of NTIA efforts to incentivize spectrum sharing between industry and federal agencies and the agencies maximizing their use of their spectrum assignments will come over the next few years with the rollout of the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band, said NTIA Administrator David Redl Wednesday at Satellite 2018. NTIA is looking at the 3450-3550 MHz band as a candidate for potential commercial use, Redl said (prepared remarks here). He said DOD plans to ask for money through the Spectrum Relocation Fund to study the band (see 1802260047). Redl said appropriations have been provided to study proposed reallocation of the 1300-1350 MHz band. Many think reallocation of the 1.3 GHz band is probably a top NTIA priority (see 1802230052).
Before C-band is opened for terrestrial use, other satellite operators currently not using the spectrum should have an opportunity to stake a claim for use for their own services, since it's allocated for satellite, ViaSat CEO Mark Dankberg said in an interview Tuesday at Satellite 2018. He said ViaSat and other satellite operators will make that case to the FCC. Intelsat and SES -- the major satcom users of C-band -- are pushing a plan for clearing and sharing parts of the band (see 1802090016).
Satellite operators need to be far more active in helping set 5G standards or risk being relegated to a tertiary niche role in providing 5G services, industry officials said Monday at Satellite 2018. Meanwhile, experts said the Intelsat/Intel/SES plan for freeing up some C-band spectrum for terrestrial use (see 1802090016) raises big questions about whether it's a smart way to monetize spectrum, or a bad precedent for satellite operators as a whole.
AT&T arguments against Comcast's buy of NBCUniversal show that if AT&T/Time Warner goes through, prices for current services will increase and emerging competition development will slow, DOJ said in a docket 17-2511 trial brief (in Pacer) to U.S. District Court in Washington. On the contrary, AT&T and TW said (in Pacer), also filed Friday, the agency's lead economic expert concedes it wouldn't be profitable for New AT&T to withhold its TV networks from rival MVPDs, and prices paid by New AT&T subscribers will decrease. The trial, to begin Monday, is expected to last 15 days (see 1803080047).