Matt Daneman

Half of the World Radiocommunication Conference-19 agenda is made up of items suggested by the Inter-American Telecommunication Commission (CITEL), including proposals on use of bands below 6 GHz for international mobile telecom (IMT) and bandwidth for high-altitude platform stations, said Julie Zoller, deputy head of the U.S. delegation to WRC-15. The tentative WRC-19 agenda -- still to be finalized by the ITU Council -- also includes CITEL-sponsored proposals on spectrum needs for a global aeronautical distress and safety system, 5 GHz radio local area networks, development of regulations for non-nongeostationary orbit fixed satellite service (FSS) systems in the V-band, a possible allocation of Earth exploration-satellite service in the 460-470 MHz band, and orbital position limits rules, Zoller said. She spoke Tuesday at the U.S. ITU Association (USITUA) annual meeting.

Experts believe the California PUC will follow its own schedule, rather than the FCC's shot clock, in reviewing Charter Communications' acquisitions of Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable. No one expects the deal to be done within the FCC's 180 days, particularly given the volume of data requested by the FCC, Paul Goodman, telecommunications senior legal counsel at the Greenlining Institute, told us. Given the Charter/TWC/BHN size, “this is more like an eight- or nine-month process,” he said, saying the CPUC typically “works hard to match” the FCC schedule. Any California delays (see 1511270047) shouldn’t derail the deal unless Charter starts to see signs federal or state regulators won’t be satisfied with answers or conditions and no sign-off is likely, Goodman said.

Pointing to entry into the mobile services market and better services for small and mid-sized businesses, Charter Communications is trying to shore up its public interest argument for its proposed purchases of Bright House Network and Time Warner Cable. But critics of the $89.1 billion pair of transactions continue to issue broadsides.

Its bankruptcy practically behind it, LightSquared CEO Doug Smith told us Friday its priority now is finding common ground with the GPS industry on LightSquared's terrestrial broadband plans and resolving that long-standing clash. "We're thrilled to have the bankruptcy completed," Smith said after the FCC's ruling earlier that day on LightSquared's change of control application: "We can get back to work resolving the remaining issues around the spectrum itself. That's our primary focus -- coexistence with GPS. I think there's an opportunity for common ground here."

LTE-U Forum backers and 3GPP allies continue to duke it out before the FCC. CTIA fired back Thursday at complaints that efforts to ensure coexistence between LTE-unlicensed and Wi-Fi are being partially hijacked. Those calls "for a formal standards review upends the permissionless innovation that is the hallmark of unlicensed spectrum policy," CTIA said in a submission in docket 15-105.

Labeling prospective programming bundling as a bad-faith negotiation tactic and eliminating the list of presumptively good-faith tactics altogether, were among suggestions multichannel video programming distributors and MVPD allies had for the FCC on reforming retransmission consent negotiation rules. Some went beyond the list of practices the agency said it's considering as potential violations of good-faith negotiating. Meanwhile, broadcasters and their allies again said the retrans market doesn't require fixing.

Aviat and Fastback networks' waiver requests for smaller antenna use in the 71-76 and 81-86 GHz bands have gotten lots of support, and the sole opponent would keep those bands underutilized, the two companies said in FCC filings posted Monday and Tuesday (see here and here) in docket 15-244. The Wireless Bureau in October sought comment on the Aviat/Fastback proposals (see 1510130030). Monday was the deadline for replies.

Broadcasters and opponents each said they have the weaker hand facing off against one another in retransmission consent negotiation talks, in FCC filings posted Tuesday in docket 15-216. Tuesday was the deadline for comments on an NPRM on possible changes to its "totality of circumstances" test in retrans good-faith negotiations, which follows the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act Reauthorization requirement for the review. The American Television Alliance (ATVA) and NAB each said they're the ones with the lesser leverage.

Defining 5G characteristics and carving out spectrum for it "clearly will be a major goal" for the 2019 World Radiocommunication Conference, said Decker Anstrom, U.S. ambassador to WRC-15. The WRC also will take a U.S.-favored approach of identifying 11 specific bands between 24 and 86 GHz that would be looked at, Anstrom said on a call with reporters Monday. "We learned from WRC-15, leaving this open ended for a variety of bands to be looked at was not a helpful process," he said. "We wanted to be clear about the bands that would be studied."

A variety of satellite companies agree with the FCC's tentative conclusion that existing direct broadcast satellite feeder link earth stations should be grandfathered on proposed rules to mitigate potential ground-path interference between those earth stations and broadcast satellite service (BSS) subscriber earth stations receiving signals in the same 17.3-17.7 GHz band. While there are few such DBS feeder link facilities, AT&T said in comments filed Wednesday in docket 06-123, "they play a critical role in the delivery of video programming to millions of viewers and must be able to continue operating as they were designed to do under the rules in force when they were licensed." AT&T, EchoStar and Dish Network jointly and SES Americom responded (see here and here) to an International Bureau public notice last month seeking updated comments on the proposed ground path interference rules (see 1510080043). SES said it continues to believe limited changes should be allowable at such DBS facilities without a loss of grandfather status. AT&T said DirecTV previously had backed creation of a "non-protection zone" around such grandfathered sites, but it now agrees with SES and EchoStar that such a buffer zone isn't needed as BSS operators starting service near an existing grandfathered site "should make their own determination as to where their potential subscribers would not be subject to excessive levels of interference from the existing site." AT&T bought DirecTV. There also was broad agreement from filers for requiring coordination between new DBS feeder link facilities and 17/24 GHz BSS providers. Instead of set limits on the siting of, shielding for or equivalent isotropically radiated power at such new facilities, the parties involved in coordination should decide that themselves, SES said. AT&T also said it changed its mind about requiring DBS operators to put new uplink facilities in low-population density areas because the coordination and shield requirements proposed mean such a requirement isn't needed. "Those DBS providers who elect to place new uplink facilities in an area not considered 'remote' or exceeding some population threshold will need to manage the (potentially more burdensome) coordination required," it said. SES said one area where it has changed its views since the FCC originally took comments on proposed rules in 2007 is that it now leans toward using 5 dB as a link performance margin when determining coordination zones, instead of a proposed 2 dB -- a figure SES called "too conservative ... not reflect[ing] realistic operational data."