Pointing to FCC Section 25.159(b) rules aimed at preventing spectrum speculation, non-geostationary orbit satellite constellation operators oppose Boeing's ask to substitute OneWeb Chairman Greg Wyler and his SOM1101 for two of its pending NGSO applications (see 1801020007). A satellite lawyer said the FCC likely will dispose of the Boeing petitions quickly as it tries to move on the pending applications, with the agency highly unlikely to go along given how approval goes against rules and implications for other proceedings that involve attributable interest issues, like spectrum auctions. Boeing and Wyler didn't comment Tuesday. The company argued Wyler doesn't have attributable interest in OneWeb (see 1801020007).
Geostationary satellites likely soon will be made with mission extension features built in, and in-orbit servicing capabilities will likely be the first of a variety of in-orbit capabilities like swapping out of payloads, experts said at a Washington Space Business Roundtable talk Monday. Payload upgrade "is a game changer," said SSL Vice President-Space Infrastructure and Civil Space Al Tadros.
Facing another year of swiftly growing retransmission consent fees paid to broadcasters, the cable industry and experts say it's unclear when, or if, that rate of increase will begin to moderate. That broadcasters have been able to keep those rates of increases this long is surprising, given declining broadcaster ratings and the proliferation of other content sources like over the top, said Duke University Shepley professor of public policy Philip Napoli.
SES' signing onto the joint Intelsat/Intel plan for clearing portions of the C-band downlink spectrum for sharing with terrestrial mobile operations (see 1710020047) greatly increases the likelihood of that proposal moving forward at the FCC, satellite industry insiders told us. Citing a "duty and mission" to protect satellite C-band operations from disruption, SES CEO Karim Sabbagh said Friday the aim is to "ensure that the expansion of the C-band ecosystem in the U.S. will protect the interests of hundreds of established services and millions of American end-users, while at the same time paving the way for the creation of next-generation 5G terrestrial services.”
Viacom has been limiting its content licensing to third-party subscription VOD services in anticipation of the direct-to-consumer streaming service it plans to launch later this year, CEO Bob Bakish said on an earnings call Thursday. Chief Financial Officer Wade Davis said it will be “fundamentally different” from what it offers MVPDs, with at least one such provider looking to incorporate it into its offerings. Bakish said Viacom continues to have conversations about deals with streaming MVPD services, with it currently on DirecTV Now, Sling and Philo. Bakish said the company is in content licensing talks with mobile carriers. "This is the point that upends the whole argument of the decline of pay TV,” given the ubiquity of mobile subscribers and carriers looking for content differentiation, Bakish said. The programmer reported revenue in the quarter ended Dec. 31 was $3.07 billion, down 8 percent, due largely to lower TV affiliate revenue and motion picture performance. Barclays analyst Kannan Venkateshwar emailed investors that results reinforce that Viacom needs "an inorganic path out of its problems" and that possibly combining with CBS (see 1802010056) would buy it time but won't solve core performance issues. Eventually, he said, CBS/Viacom would need to look at other partnerships to get scale needed to survive. Viacom stock closed Thursday up 7.2 percent to $32.71.
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act system is broken for ISPs, and fixes aren't readily evident, said panelists at an FCBA CLE Wednesday. ISPs' safe harbor protections under DMCA are to balance their interests with those of copyright holders, but there are increasing strains on that cooperation since ISPs aren't thrilled about shutting off customers, and copyright holders often feel ISPs are using that argument to hide from their responsibilities, said cable ISP lawyer Seth Davidson of Mintz Levin. ISPs also aren't enthusiastic about demands they pass along to their subscribers copyright infringement settlement offers, he said.
Disney's increasing its estimate for Hulu losses this year to $250 million could indicate expectations of the virtual MVPD service gaining a million incremental subscribers, which would help Disney subscriber trends but potentially hurt legacy MVPDs, Barclays analyst Kannan Venkateshwar wrote investors Wednesday. Disney has begun the process of seeking regulatory OK for its Fox purchase in numerous jurisdictions worldwide, Disney CEO Bob Iger said on the company's quarterly earnings call Tuesday. Iger said the deal gives it "significant production capabilities and ... the talent to produce on our behalf." He said those production capabilities would be used in Disney's movie and TV businesses and in creating content for its direct-to-consumer offerings. He said an ESPN direct-to-consumer service will launch this spring in conjunction with a "reconceived and redesigned" ESPN app that will allow livestreaming of all ESPN networks and the ESPN+ subscription service. He said the ESPN+ streaming service will be $4.99 monthly, with the Disney direct to consumer service targeted for late 2019. He said the media company is seeing a trend of cord-nevers "coming into ... the multichannel world," attracted by the lower prices and skinnier bundles of digital platforms.
The FAA is acting to accommodate the increasing pace of commercial space launches, though the regulator also needs to see increased industry focus on safety, acting Administrator Dan Elwell said Wednesday at the annual Commercial Space Transportation Conference. The agency "cannot be a rubber stamp nor ... a hurdle," he said.
Some Charter Communications new product rollouts backburnered in 2016 and 2017 by the Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks integration will happen this year, CEO Tom Rutledge said during a Q4 earnings call Friday. They include broader distribution of its WorldBox set-top, of which 2 million have been deployed, and adding volumes of HD titles to its VOD service, he said. By year's end, its cloud-based Spectrum Guide will be available to almost all new customers, and 1 GB speeds using DOCSIS 3.1 will be available to almost the entire Charter footprint, he said. Rutledge said 30 percent of the legacy TWC and 60 percent of the legacy BHN footprints remain analog but will be digital by year's end. Rutledge said most of the integration is complete. Regarding the mobile service the cable provider plans to launch mid year using the Verizon mobile virtual network operator platform, Rutledge said there's no decision on pricing. He said Charter has been experimenting with licensed and unlicensed spectrum that potentially could become "licensable" alongside Wi-Fi. He said the company may want to bundle licensed spectrum with Wi-Fi spectrum for a broad mobile and in-home platform, though that's not a goal for this year. The ISP said 2017 revenue was $41.6 billion, up 3.9 percent pro forma. It ended 2017 with 16.5 million residential video customers, down 292,000 from a year earlier; 22.5 million residential Internet customers, up nearly 1.2 million; and 10.4 million residential voice customers, up 100,000. Charter stock closed up 4.4 percent Friday at $387.50. Citing federal tax changes and the FCC Communications Act Title II net neutrality rule rollback, Charter blogged it's setting its minimum wage at $15 an hour over the next year. It said most Charter workers are call center representatives, field technicians and Spectrum store workers. The company didn't say how many workers currently make less than $15 an hour. It said the tax changes and rollback also reinforce its plans for a $25 billion broadband network buildout by 2020.
Two former deputy assistant attorneys general for economic analysis at DOJ's Antitrust Division will be lead economics expert witnesses, on opposing sides, for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia trial on the agency's attempt to block AT&T buying Time Warner. DOJ counsel Craig Conrath told U.S. District Judge Richard Leon Friday during a biweekly status hearing on the impending trial that University of California, Berkeley economics professor Carl Shapiro will be lead economics expert witness for DOJ. Conrath said Justice potentially had two other expert witnesses to testify about regulatory issues. AT&T outside counsel Daniel Petrocelli of O'Melveny said the lead economics expert for the defense will be University of Chicago economics professor Dennis Carlton, and it has potentially three other expert witnesses to discuss advertising, media and entertainment and business efficiency issues. Petrocelli said there's a cap of 30 fact witnesses each for the two sides, but it's unlikely either side will call more than half that. Leon urged the two sides to give him a heads up about potential conflicts over evidence admissibility, so as to avoid numerous or protracted objections that could make the trial disjointed or delay a final ruling. The trial -- expected to run two to three weeks -- is to start March 19 (see 1712070067).