HGTV, Food Network, Travel Channel, DIY Network, Cooking Channel and Great American Country will be on AT&T's DirecTV Now streaming service when it launches later this year (see 1609210048), Scripps Networks said in a news release Thursday, announcing multiyear renewal of the carriage agreement.

Microsoft continues to air its Xbox interference concerns about Globalstar's terrestrial low-power service (TLPS) with the FCC, with an ex parte filing posted Thursday in docket 13-213 recapping a meeting involving company officials including Deputy General Counsel Dave Heiner with Commissioner Mignon Clyburn. The company said it discussed its interference test results (see 1609140038) and demonstrated how game play using an Xbox 360S wireless controller is disrupted by a TLPS signal. Globalstar didn't comment.

Any approval of OneWeb's petition seeking market access for its non-geostationary constellation operating in the 28.6-29.1 GHz band should include a condition that OneWeb coordinate on a co-primary basis with existing and future U.S. licensed geostationary fixed satellite service operations in the same band, EchoStar said in a filing Wednesday. That condition would put U.S.-licensed and non-U.S. licensed GSO operations on equal footing on interference protection and is consistent with the co-primary allocations for the band internationally, it said. EchoStar said it has been having coordination discussions with OneWeb and anticipates it will go along with the condition. EchoStar also said OneWeb should be required to submit more information showing its Ku-band plans will have enough interference protection for direct broadcast satellite and broadcast satellite service operations in the 12.2-12.7 GHz band, where OneWeb also will operate some downlinks. OneWeb didn't comment Thursday.

The increased capacity in the satellite universe will mean challenges for satellite operators focused on traditional wide-beam coverage, Intelsat CEO Stephen Spengler said at a Goldman Sachs investor conference Wednesday. "People putting up standard wide-beam capacity, they are going to have [internal rate of return] challenges when it comes to replacing those satellites," Spengler said. "It is not a sustainable model." He said Intelsat is moving to a model of its high-throughput Epic constellation providing spot beam coverage in dense areas of high demand, and using wide-beam coverage in areas like ocean coverage. Spengler said North America is a little-changed market for media distribution and direct-to-home coverage, and Ultra HD is coming but "slow in developing." The company's North American broadcaster and programmer customers are taking their time planning for Ultra HD, given higher production costs and the expense of Ultra HD infrastructure, he said, saying Ultra HD might be more readily adopted by over-the-top providers. Spengler said he sees a long tail for media distribution via satellite despite the growing prevalence of fiber networks due to the large number of communities off the fiber grid or that lack sufficient fiber connectivity. Close to 5,000 cable headends are served by satellite and a sizable number will remain "well into the next decade," he said.

Nintendo and the Wi-Fi Alliance are continuing their lobbying against Globalstar's proposed broadband terrestrial low-power service, said ex parte filings (see here and here) posted Wednesday in FCC docket 13-213. Nintendo said that at a meeting at its Redmond, Washington, offices with Commissioner Mignon Clyburn and Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., it echoed its concerns about TLPS' possible interference with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi use in the 2.4 GHz band (see 1609160070). It said that instead of moving on a draft order, the FCC should do "comprehensive, transparent, real-world testing" and separate assessments of the potential effects of opportunistic use of Wi-Fi channel 14 by third parties. Nintendo representatives at the meeting included Executive Vice President-Operations Don James. Wi-Fi Alliance's filing recapped a phone call with Commissioner Mike O'Rielly in which it repeated its charge that using 2473-2495 MHz for TLPS will interfere with Wi-Fi channel 11 and that Globalstar hasn't done industry-standard testing or analysis to demonstrate the contrary (see 1505290019). Wi-Fi Alliance also said the FCC should look at whether the entire upper segment of the 2.4 GHz band should be opened up for unlicensed use. Globalstar has said TLPS would serve the public interest by adding 22 megahertz to the nation’s broadband spectrum inventory and alleviating congestion in the 2.4 GHz ISM band.

The Part 25 satellite rules changes the FCC ordered in December (see 1512170036) need clarification or correction regarding U.S. market access requests, SES said in a petition for reconsideration Tuesday in docket 12-267. The FCC's decision to defer processing of a U.S. market access request deemed mutually exclusive with a prior filing by a U.S. licensee conflicts with agency precedent and lets a U.S. filer block a foreign satellite licensee from starting service for U.S. customers, SES said. If the foreign licensee has ITU priority, the U.S. filer might not be able to provide service even if gets licensed, SES said. The company said holding U.S. market requests in abeyance pending resolution of the two-step U.S. licensing process "is all the more puzzling" since FCC precedent determined that granting a U.S. license doesn't preclude granting market access to a foreign licensee with ITU priority. Instead, SES said, the FCC should consider U.S. market access requests as they're received, regardless of whether a potentially conflicting U.S. filing has been submitted. At the very least, it said, the FCC should make a parallel process where a foreign licensee can get queue priority.

OneWeb is willing to work with Boeing, though adding another large non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite constellation to the orbital altitude where OneWeb wants to put its constellation "would present physical coordination challenges," satellite company officials told FCC International Bureau staffers, including Satellite Division Chief Jose Albuquerque, said an ex parte filing Monday. Both companies are planning NGSO constellations at roughly 1,200 km nominal altitude (see 1608290063). OneWeb discussed the U.K. Space Agency's regulatory oversight of its orbital debris mitigation plan. The company said it's required under U.K. regulations to demonstrate it has "a clear understanding" of hazards of building and constructing its constellation and has made "a reasonable attempt" to limit those hazards. The company said internal requirements would exceed regulatory requirements in mission and satellite design, and its satellites will include a strong radar signature for easier independent tracking, electric ion propulsion, active conjunction monitoring and maneuvering from launch to re-entry, with atmospheric re-entry within five years of decommissioning. Boeing in a statement Tuesday pointed to its previous assertions that the two could operate their constellations at or near 1,200 km through slight adjustments in the planned constellation altitudes (see 1608290063). It also said, based on preliminary talks with OneWeb representatives and FCC officials, it doesn't plan to operate its constellation "using an overlapping orbital altitude" with OneWeb's, but would work with the company and FCC to find orbital altitudes for each that don't overlap and include sufficient margin to prevent collision events. Boeing said it "has substantial experience with [low earth orbit] satellite management through its stewardship of the Iridium constellation for more than 15 years [and] plans to work with other operators of proposed LEO constellations to coordinate physical operations between and among systems, facilitate greater use of space and meet all applicable regulatory requirements."

ViaSat got a $33.3 million contract from the Defense Department's Space and Missile Systems Center for the Protected Tactical Service Field Demonstration, which will demonstrate the ability to provide wideband anti-jam communications to tactical users of both government and commercial satellites. In a news release Monday, the company said the program includes development of a protected tactical waveform modem and an embedded cryptographic unit. The work is expected to be done by Sept. 30, 2020.

SES wants U.S. market access for its Brazilian-licensed SES-14 satellite so as to provide direct-to-home service there, the company said in an FCC International Bureau application Friday: SES-14 would serve the U.S. market in the C- and Ku-bands from 47.5 degrees west and supplement C- and Ku-band service being provided by NSS-806.

Former LightSquared CEO Sanjiv Ahuja took his fight against the company's Chapter 11 reorganization to the Supreme Court, according to a 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals notice posted Monday of an August writ of certiorari filing. Ahuja -- a major shareholder in the company now known as Ligado -- challenged the reorganization plan, arguing it wasn't fair because it overpaid some senior creditors with undervalued equity in the reorganized company, but the 2nd Circuit in May denied his petition for rehearing (see 1605120001).