Global efforts at spectrum harmonization alternately came under fire and were held up for applause by speakers Tuesday at Satellite 2017. The 2015 World Radiocommunication Conference raised questions about whether there's a fundamental breakdown of the ability to harmonize, said Dynamic Spectrum Alliance President Kalpak Gude. GSMA Senior Spectrum Adviser Veena Rawat said harmonization "is not dead." She said one constant issue with harmonization is the long period that can come between allocation of spectrum for a service and the actual rollout of those services in that band. She cited 600 MHz harmonization through the ITU in 2009, with countries today still transitioning their broadcasting.
The data capacity pricing wars among satellite operators won't end anytime soon, though the video distribution business could be slightly more insulated than some other services, speakers said Monday at Satellite 2017. Satellite industry experts and insiders also said the industry is ripe for mergers and consolidation.
Though Ligado wants a cap on the transmit equivalent isotropically radiated power (EIRP) levels for the thousands of its planned satellite-broadband LTE network base stations at 32 dBW at most, realistically they would operate at power levels of half of that or less, the company tells us. Those even-lower power levels still would be within parameters for the company to provide 5G and IoT service with its L-band spectrum, said General Counsel Valerie Green.
SpaceX, OneWeb and Telesat Canada -- already planning non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite constellations in the Ka- and/or Ku-band (see 1611160010) -- also want FCC approval to put more than 8,000 V-band satellites in orbit. And Boeing plans to operate a 147-satellite V-band constellation atop the 2,900-satellite NGSO V-band constellation already awaiting FCC review (see 1606230050). Wednesday was the deadline for processing round applications triggered by Boeing’s NGSO application (see 1611010060). Aside from the new constellations, O3b and Theia Holdings asked in amendments to be allowed to add V-band capabilities to their pending NGSO applications.
Satellite industry self-protection against cyberattacks, particularly through sourcing of components and software, "is not where it should be," said Greg Garcia, Signal Group executive vice president and former Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary-cybersecurity, Wednesday at a CompTIA panel. The industry's awareness about and sophistication in response to threats also "has more room for growth," he said.
The growth of virtual multichannel video programming distributors and of their subscriber bases is ratcheting up the competitive pressure on legacy MVPDs to consider launching their own, industry experts and watchers told us. That virtual MVPD growth likely will be followed by increased calls for regulation of them, they said. Google meanwhile is stepping up its offerings.
Intelsat and OneWeb joining likely would need only FCC International Bureau, not commissioner, approval, although that process still could take months, satellite lawyer and former LightSquared General Counsel Jeff Carlisle told us. He said the deal, announced Tuesday, shouldn't draw a lot of controversial comments. He said the deal doesn't seem to pose horizontal or vertical concentration issues because the two companies operate in different markets. Instead, the combination points to a breaking down of traditional telecom silos of terrestrial/low earth orbit (LEO)/geosynchronous orbit (GEO), much like AT&T/DirecTV did. "You're going to see a lot of these age-old distinctions becoming maybe a little less distinct," Carlisle said. Intelsat said it expects to deal to close in Q3, contingent on regulatory and bondholder approvals. Intelsat CEO Stephen Spengler said in an analyst call Tuesday that the combined company, with Intelsat's GEO system and OneWeb's planned LEO system, opens the door to their together taking a larger satellite broadband market share and doing more work in backhaul carriage, as well as new applications like connected vehicles and over-the-top video distribution. Northern Sky Research analyst Lluc Palerm told us the deal opens the door to opportunities like the joined companies working low-latency markets such as 5G and also would let startup OneWeb piggyback off the international landing rights Intelsat already has.
Satellite operators made numerous suggestions to the FCC for tweaks to its proposed set of updates to Part 2 and Part 25 rules to accommodate the boom in non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) constellation plans (see 1612150066). More harmonization of FCC rules with the ITU was espoused in comments posted Tuesday in docket 16-408, as were different milestone requirements.
FCC eighth floor consideration of a revamp of overbuild conditions put on Charter Communications as part of its Time Warner Cable/Bright House Networks takeovers might still leave the cable operator or other media companies room to seek relief from other conditions on the deal. Some FCC watchers said the order on circulation could get a 3-0 vote.
Large multichannel video programming distributors and small cable programmers remain apart on restricting some carriage contract conditions, in FCC docket 16-41 reply comments posted Thursday on the independent and diverse programming NPRM. The American Cable Association and indie programmers jointly attacked large programmer arguments that the market is working, saying the "modicum of diversity" that comes from bundled conglomerate networks "foreclos[es] access to others [and] disserves the public interest." They said determination of whether most-favored nation language is unconditional will be relatively easy from the text of the provision itself. Joining ACA were programmers MAVTV Motorsports Networks, Ride TV and sister networks One America News Network and AWE. Charter Communications and Mediacom together said given the vast array of content choices available to consumers, no regulation promoting carriage of a particular program channel or channel group is needed. NAB continued its defense of bundling (see 1701270006), replying that no one provided any empirical evidence of large programmers having market power that rivals that of MVPDs. Public Knowledge said the FCC has authority under sections 616 and 628 of the Communications Act to tackle carriage agreement terms that hurt competition and said there's ample evidence to back the prohibition of unconditional MFNs and unreasonable alternative distribution method (ADM) language. Saying there was widespread agreement that defining indie programmers as those not vertically integrated with an MVPD is too broad, RFD-TV backed a definition meaning unaffiliated with a broadcast network, movie studio or MVPD. Along with backing a prohibition on unconditional MFN and unreasonable ADM clauses in carriage agreements, RFD-TV said the FCC should tackle bundling practices and the high switching costs and early termination fees. Charter/Mediacom also supported the agency taking a narrow definition of indie programmer, pushing one that doesn't include programmers that command significant market power through their offerings of must-have programming. NAB urged that broadcasters not be excluded from the indie programmer definition. Calling itself "a potential entrant to the video distribution marketplace," T-Mobile said the FCC should ensure unconditional MFNs don't block emerging video competitors and that unreasonable ADMs don't block over-the-top competition.