All 10 Iridium Next satellites for the broadband satellite constellation's fourth launch are in processing at Vandenberg Air Force Base, with the launch scheduled for Dec. 22, the company said Tuesday. It said the launch will be the midway point of its SpaceX launch campaign and the first of two Iridium Next launches employing reused SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets. It said with that launch, 40 Next constellation satellites will be in orbit, more than half the 66 required for an operational constellation. It contracted with SpaceX for eight launches to carry a total of 75 Next satellites into orbit, including nine spares.

SiriusXM and a California motorist are at odds over a lawsuit alleging violations of the Driver's Privacy Protection Act (DPPA) for sending out solicitations and calling new buyers of satellite radio-enabled cars. In a docket 5:17-cv-01724 motion (in Pacer) for summary judgment Monday in U.S. District Court in Riverside, the company said it's not a DPPA violation to access or use information provided by a consumer pursuant to a business transaction, such as buying a car, and a motor vehicle record under the DPPA doesn't include information obtained from a source other than the department of motor vehicles. In a motion (in Pacer) to certify the class, plaintiff James Andrews said the name and address information in the dealer management system came from his California driver's license, thus constituting a motor vehicle record. Andrews said the proposed class could number more than 100,000.

The Florida Supreme Court analyzed discriminatory effects of the state's communications services tax (CST) based purely on the basis of domicile, an approach conflicting with rulings by most courts and with U.S. Supreme Court precedent, said EchoStar Satellite/Dish Network in a U.S. Supreme Court docket 17-379 reply brief Monday. The company is appealing the Florida court's April opinion tossing out a 2005 lawsuit arguing the CST violates the Commerce Clause by charging a higher rate on direct broadcast satellite than on cable TV; the court said neither cable nor DBS qualified as an in-state interest, negating the satellite companies' discriminatory effect argument, and there's no evidence state lawmakers adopted the CST with discriminatory purpose. EchoStar said the morass of Commerce Clause doctrine makes it "vital for the Court to step in" to give certainty over divided courts looking at the constitutionality of state laws differentiating between interstate competitors. The Florida Department of Revenue, in a brief filed earlier this month in opposition to the DBS petition for writ of certiorari, said it overlooks that Florida taxes satellite differently because Congress prohibited local taxation of satellite services in the Telecom Act, so the state shares such tax receipts with localities. It ignores that satellite's overall CST burden is less than cable TV's, the state said.

The C-band is a likely target for global consensus for launching commercial 5G in 2019, ABI Research said Monday. It said industry field trials and lab work often have focused on millimeter wave frequencies, but recent regulatory announcements by close to 20 countries point to the C-band being the most common spectrum identified for 5G. It said a wide variety of low-, medium- and high-band spectrum will be necessary long term for 5G, but in the near term, millimeter wave spectrum use for 5G services is hampered by technology challenges and availability. Meanwhile, C-band with its global harmonization is a bigger opportunity for large-scale deployment, it said.

CBS content is returning to Dish Network's lineup as the two companies reached a multiyear carriage agreement for CBS' owned local stations, CBS Sports Network, Pop and the Smithsonian Channel, Dish said Friday. Terms weren't made public. The blackout started Tuesday and affected 28 stations in 18 markets (see 1711210026).

Senate Commerce Member Ed Markey, D-Mass., is pushing Dish Network and CBS to settle a blackout (see 1711210024) before the airing of Sunday's New England Patriots/Miami Dolphins NFL matchup. He said the contract dispute "will make a lot of fans frustrated when they tune into the Patriots on Sunday and see nothing but a blank screen." CBS in a statement Wednesday said "pulling content providers off the air is DISH's way of doing things" and that it and Dish remain far apart on contractual terms. It said it hasn't been part of a blackout since the last expiration of its Dish agreement, in November 2014. Dish didn't comment. "To be clear, CBS blacked out its own viewers," Dish said in a statement, adding that it's awaiting CBS' response to its latest offer, which it gave the network before it pulled its signal from Dish. "The channels could come back today if CBS would allow it," it said.

SES wants to temporarily operate a network of very small aperture terminals to test the Ku-band spot beams on its SES-15 satellite. In an FCC International Bureau special temporary authority request filed Friday, SES said the temporary VSAT network will allow SES-15 testing before commencement of commercial operations with the satellite in January. The STA asked for 30 days of approval, commencing Dec. 1, to operate 13 1.2-meter terminals in California, Hawaii, Maryland and Washington to communicate with SES-1, SES-3 and SES-15. SES-15 was launched in May and is expected to arrive at its assigned orbital position by Dec. 22, it said.

Eutelsat wants to relocate its Eutelsat 172A satellite from 172 degrees east to 174 degrees east to supplement capacity in the Asia-Pacific, including U.S. government communication requirements, the company said in an FCC International Bureau filing Friday. It hopes to start the drift as soon as Wednesday and plans to file a separate request for authority to operate at the new orbital location. The agency earlier this month approved Eutelsat's request to operate Eutelsat 172B from the 172 degree east orbital location as a replacement of 172A.

The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology approved Iridium's role in a series of NASA-conducted experiments involving the Technical Educational Satellite-6 (TechEdSat-6) low earth orbit (LEO) nanosatellite. OET's special temporary authority granted Monday said an Iridium satellite phone will be used on the satellite to transmit to satellites in Iridium's LEO constellation, with those transmissions being part of an experiment in using the Iridium constellation in tracking and data relay for nanosatellites. The company said it will transmit in the 1618.725-1626.5 MHz band and that TechEdSat-6 will be in orbit at most 30 days.

Botswana became the first nation outside the U.S. to OK Globalstar's terrestrial S-band authority and to sign off on it providing terrestrial mobile broadband services over the 2483.5-2500 MHz band, the company said Thursday, announcing Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority approval. It said it filed its application earlier this year and received accelerated review. It said that through its commercial gateway in Botswana the company began providing coverage in 2015 to 14 African nations and surrounding ocean areas for commercial shipping markets. Globalstar said it hoped to get at least some foreign regulatory approvals this year for its terrestrial low-power service plans, and has applications pending in a variety of countries (see 1701300039).