Due to potential problems stemming from a Sirius XM Telephone Consumer Protection Act settlement website, the deadline for cash TCPA claims was extended from Nov. 26 to Dec. 12 and a fourth round of 5 million email notices to class members was sent out about that extension, counsel for the satellite radio company and for the class-action suit plaintiffs said in a joint memorandum (in Pacer) Tuesday. In the joint filing in U.S. District Court in Newport News, Virginia, the lawyers said the problems revolved around an incorrect filing deadline date on a settlement claims sites that, for the five-plus days it was wrong, could have dissuaded class members from filing a cash claim for part of the $35 million SiriusXM settlement regarding the company's alleged TCPA violations (see 1606080019). The company laid out its corrective steps, saying it's visited conductor sites with an expert to confirm the changes made by those vendors to separate autodialed systems from the manual dialing systems used for dialing mobile phones. A fairness hearing on the settlement is scheduled for Tuesday.

Assurances that Ligado is providing the FCC about being open to tighter out-of-band emission limits (see 1611030049) don't change that the company's proposed terrestrial operations would generate excessive out of band emissions that would interfere with Indium's operations in adjacent spectrum, Iridium said in a filing Wednesday in docket 12-340. It said Ligado's technical response to Iridium cherry-picks issues from non-similar FCC proceedings and it said its own assumptions line up with the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee final report issued in 2013, in which Ligado was a major participant. Iridium also said Ligado's legal arguments fall short and that the company is ignoring Section 25.255 of rules, which puts on Ligado an obligation to prevent harmful interference. Ligado didn't comment.

Dish Network will likely keep violating the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR), requiring injunctive relief, DOJ and the FTC said in a proposed conclusions of law filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Springfield, Illinois, in advance of the second phase of the lawsuit alleging robocall violations by the company (see 0903260144). The agencies said in the filing (in Pacer) that the likelihood of future Dish violations is proven by 165 million violations it committed between 2003 and 2011, its failure to show that during that time it identified or tried to correct the underlying TSR problems and its ability to use such marketing tactics to continue selling its offerings. They said the company hasn't provided any evidence that would let them and the court evaluate current practices. "Fencing-in relief is appropriate against Dish's internal telemarketing operation because it admitted ... that 'mistakes' were made but never offered a competent explanation for how it came to commit so many violations of the TSR and what it did to ensure additional violations did not occur," DOJ/FTC said, adding that their proposed five-year telemarketing ban on the company would give it "time to rebuild its systems so it can comply with the law." They said the ban on Dish's accepting new orders from past or current Order Entry retailers until it ensures those retailers aren't violating telemarketing laws is justifiable given that OE retailer system "has been rife with shady, illegal practices" since it signed up its first OE retailer in 2003. The satellite-TV provider didn't comment Wednesday.

The U.S. hopes to incorporate more commercial satellite capabilities into its national defense architecture, but changes first need to made in federal procurement rules to allow longer-term contracts, said Robert Tarleton, director-Military Satellite Communications Systems Directorate, Air Force Space Command, at a satellite industry panel Tuesday. Tarleton said the Air Force is looking at issuing a Pathfinder that would let it buy transponder space on commercial satellites before launch, letting the agency be part of the design of the satellite architecture. Pathfinder is a DOD business model that lets the agency commit to using commercial satellite transponders for multiple years instead of shorter-term operations and maintenance leases. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is considering experimenting with an acquisition model where it would put out unclassified orders for imagery of specific areas or incidents -- such as troop placements in foreign countries -- and earth imaging companies could compete to provide the pixels, data and/or analysis, rather than its traditional approach of long-term acquisition contracts, said NGA Director-Source Strategies Chirag Parikh. He also said with capabilities from earth imaging satellite operators like DigitalGlobe and Planet Labs, imagery acquisition is no longer a challenge but data processing and analysis are, with the U.S. considering outsourcing more routine analysis work to commercial operators.

Telemarketer Infinity Sales Group and DOJ and FTC are at odds over whether an Infinity executive's declaration can be part of the record in a Telephone Consumer Protection Act lawsuit against Dish Network. In an opposition (in Pacer) filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Springfield, Illinois, the government said Infinity can't and shouldn't be allowed to file documents in a case in which it's not a party. The agencies said Infinity Senior Vice President-Sales Josh Slater was subpoenaed by Dish in October and an Infinity attorney on Thursday filed a notice of appearance that included a Slater declaration in which he gave information he didn't offer during trial testimony. Since Infinity isn't a party and hasn't intervened, its lawyers "cannot simply appear in the case and start making filings," DOJ and FTC said. Even if Infinity had moved to intervene, the agencies said, that would have been untimely because it knew for years that its conduct as a sales agent could be at issue during the Dish trial, but "did nothing about it until more than a month after the actual parties to the case rested after a five-week trial." In its motion (in Pacer), Infinity said that during Slater's cross-examination, the government ignored his testimony that the government-sought injunction would put Infinity out of business and focused on "a surprise smear campaign against Infinity's reputation" about the company's prior relationship with a person who was subject of unrelated, non-TCPA criminal actions. The government used documents never produced to Infinity or Dish, leaving Infinity unable to respond, it said, seeking leave to file Slater's declaration.

Globalstar continues to pitch suggested rules that would govern its revised broadband terrestrial low-power service plans. In an ex parte filing Monday in FCC docket 13-213, the company recapped a phone call between General Counsel Barbee Ponder and International Bureau Satellite Division Chief Jose Albuquerque in which Ponder talked about the revised proposal rules and its changes to provisions in the NPRM. The company also urged the agency to adopt the revised rules, which it submitted earlier this month (see 1612080025).

The FCC International Bureau signed off on SES' launch of its SES-11 satellite and subsequent operations in the Ku-band. In an approval Wednesday, the bureau said the company sought rule waivers for the satellite -- which will operate at 104.95 degrees west -- to operate in the Ka-band in 18.3-19.3 GHz and 19.7-20.2 GHz for downlinks and 28.35-29.1 GHz and 29.25-30 GHz for uplinks, but it would address those waivers in connection with any future request for operating authority in the Ka-band frequencies, which can be used for broadband. The bureau in a letter to U.K. telecom regulator Ofcom said the satellite is expected to launch this year.

Pointing to problems its 33e satellite had with its main thruster, Intelsat is asking for more time for the satellite's in-orbit testing and drift. In an FCC International Bureau filing Tuesday, Intelsat requested a 30-day extension to its special temporary authority for the testing at 59.55 degrees east and the subsequent drift to 60 degrees east. The satellite was launched Aug. 24.

Another GPS equipment maker now has no objections to Ligado's proposed broadband terrestrial low-power service. In an ex parte filing Tuesday in docket 11-109 signed by Topcon Positioning Systems Chief Strategy Officer Ivan Di Federico and Ligado CEO Doug Smith, Topcon said it now supports the FCC granting Ligado's license modifications because the two companies have an agreement that would involve coordination before Ligado's network deployment and mitigation efforts. The Topcon agreement follows similar agreements between Ligado and GPS firms Deere, Trimble, Garmin and NovAtel (see 1602040015 and 1606280067).

Spire plans to launch roughly 25 automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) satellites next year and another 50 in 2018 as it plans to start a satellite-based global aircraft tracking service, Spire AirSafe, the company announced Monday. Spire said the system for tracking ADS-B equipped aircraft will be in operation before the U.S. domestic ADS-B mandate in 2020. Rival Aireon also said it hopes to have its ADS-B constellation deployed by 2018 (see 1602250048).