Section 2.106 of FCC own rules limits deployment in the 12.2-12.7 GHz band to fixed service, broadcast satellite service and fixed satellite service, not mobile satellite service, meaning OneWeb's planned non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite constellation should be denied, MVDDS 5G Coalition representatives told FCC staffers, according to an ex parte filing Friday in the OneWeb proceeding. The coalition said the OneWeb application isn't in the public interest because its use of 12.2-12.7 GHz "would essentially destroy any realistic prospect of MVDDS rollout" because of the inability of MVDDS and NGSO to coexist under current rules due to NGSO satellite receivers receiving interference from MVDDS transmitters. Since OneWeb proposes mobile service, that "makes the death blow to MVDDS that much more definitive" because the precise locations and operating times for the receivers would be unknown, MVDDS 5G said. The additional 5,400 MHz of spectrum OneWeb seeks outside 12.2-12.7 MHz band should more than suffice, coalition members said. Representing the group were Dish Network staffers including Deputy General Counsel Jeff Blum. Representing the FCC at the meeting were staffers including International Bureau Satellite Division Chief Jose Albuquerque and Wireless Bureau Chief Engineer Chris Helzer. OneWeb didn't comment Monday.

A federal judge tentatively signed off on a settlement in a class-action complaint alleging Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) violations by Dish Network and background check company Sterling Infosystems, said a preliminary settlement approval order (in Pacer) filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. Judge Lorna Schofield said the settlement authorization class will be all Dish contractor technicians who were subject to a Dish consumer report after Nov. 30, 2010, and who received forms 2 or 3 before Dish received the summary consumer report but weren't provided any other relevant forms. The adverse action class will be all Dish contractor technicians or technician applicants whose summary consumer reports were given to Dish and who were adjudicated as "high" risk after Nov. 30, 2010.A final hearing Jan. 17 will determine whether the final settlement is fair and to consider any objections. The 2012 lawsuit alleges Dish and background check company Sterling violated the federal FCRA in their use of credit reports to do background checks on prospective employees or subcontractors (see 1512160017). The joint settlement motion (in Pacer) filed in August said Dish and Sterling agreed to put $1.175 million into a settlement fund, with the money minus fees and expenses to be distributed pro rata to settlement class members who submit claim forms, with adverse action class members receiving allocations of six times the amount that goes to authorization class members.

FCC-proposed requirements for “top level menu access of closed caption display controls” are “premature,” EchoStar said in a letter posted in docket 12-108 Monday. “Rather than adopting additional regulations, the Commission should encourage innovative accessibility features and designs for set top boxes and digital apparatus that are in-process." The FCC should “reconsider the need for any additional rules after all stakeholders have had a chance to assess the results of these new features,” EchoStar said. It also said the FCC should “provide maximum flexibility in developing usable, compliant solutions, and reject 'single step' solution mandates that are not warranted.” AT&T and NCTA Monday also expressed concerns on a draft set-top box order now on circulation (see 1609190048).

Intelsat hopes to launch its 37e satellite, part of its Epic high-throughput satellite constellation, in Q3 2017, the company said in an FCC International Bureau application Thursday. Intelsat 37e would operate at 18 degrees west, replacing Intelsat 901 currently operating there, the company said. Intelsat said that along with the frequencies 901 operates in now, 37e also would operate in 3400-3625 MHz, 6425-6650 MHz, 11200-11450 MHz, 11700-11950 MHz, 12500-12750 MHz, 1300-13250 MHz, 13750-14000 MHz, 18300-18800 MHz, 19700-20200 MHz, 28350-28850 MHz and 29250-30000 MHz. Since the 3400-3600 MHz and 12500-12700 MHz bands aren't allocated for fixed satellite service geostationary satellite orbit operations in the U.S, 37e won't operate in these frequencies in the U.S., it said.

DirecTV and MasTec Advanced Technologies, one of its contractors, were out of bounds firing a group of employees who griped to a Florida TV news station about pay policies, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled Friday, upholding a 2011 National Labor Relations Board ruling. DirecTV and MasTec said the workers' comments weren't protected concerted activity because of malicious untruths and flagrant disloyalty. Judges Judith Rogers and Sri Srinivasan -- who wrote the majority opinion (in Pacer) -- said the court's interest isn't where that line between protected and unprotected activity sits but on the correctness of NLRB's finding that the workers' appeal is on the protected side of that line. Judge Janice Brown dissented. The pay policy required MasTec installers to hook up DirecTV set-top boxes to customer phone lines, with MasTec setting up financial incentives and punishments for hook-up quotas, the D.C. Circuit ruling said. MasTec fired nearly all technicians who were part of a TV news broadcast about the policy, the court said. An NLRB administrative law judge said going public is protected activity, but their statements were so disloyal and disparaging that they weren't protected. The full NLRB disagreed that the comments to the TV news crew reached that level. Judges' decision Friday said MasTec workers' on-air comments "were neither so disloyal and incommensurate with their labor grievances nor so maliciously untrue as to fall outside" of National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) protections. They also dismissed DirecTV arguments that because the direct broadcast satellite company is the fired workers' employer's customer, the workers had no protected rights to criticize it, ruling DirecTV clearly committed an unfair labor practice in causing MasTec to do the firings. In her dissent, Brown said the workers crossed the line from labor dispute to public disparagement aimed at eroding the companies' reputations. "This is not a close case," Brown said, pointing to the workers' telling the station that MasTec was requiring them to lie to customers when it had not done so, and was trying to have them scare customers into accepting the service: "By soberly repeating that joke to a public audience without its context and as though it were a serious instruction, these technicians left the NLRA and its protections behind." DirecTV in a statement said it agreed with the dissent and is "considering [its] options.” MasTec didn't comment.

Between 2006 and 2015, 163 earth observation satellites larger than 50 kilograms launched worldwide for civil and commercial Earth observation, with another 419 such launches expected over the next decade, Euroconsult said in a news release Thursday. Canada Managing Director Adam Keith said those numbers don't include satellites smaller than 50 kilograms, such as Planet and Spire constellations. He also said there will be downward price pressure as supply increases faster than demand for commercial data and services. Euroconsult said defense will drive growth in the short term given regional unrest "and the limited ability of countries to operate capable image intelligence systems being the main driving factors," but longer-term growth will come from such applications as maritime, infrastructure and resources monitoring.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation Rail Division is bringing new Wi-Fi service plans to the 174-mile Piedmont line between Raleigh and Charlotte through a deal with ViaSat, ViaSat said in a news release Thursday. The service has three levels: a 30-minute bronze plan included in the ticket purchase, and more robust silver and gold plans with higher speeds and more streaming media options.

With four Terra Bella Technologies commercial remote-sensing satellites scheduled for launch Thursday, the company received FCC International Bureau OK for short-term modification of the telemetry downlink frequencies to be used while they're brought into service after launch. The bureau Wednesday approved the request to use 8374.5, 8374.75, 8375.25 and 8375.5 MHz for telemetry transmissions until routine communications links with SkySat-4, SkySat-5, SkySat-6 and SkySat-7 are established -- a period of perhaps two weeks, Terra Bella said. The bureau in August approved the former Skybox Imaging's application for authorization to operate a non-geostationary orbit earth exploration satellite service system with the launch of 13 additional satellites atop SkySat-1 and SkySat-2, already in orbit.

Revised Part 25 rules for satellite services take effect Monday, the FCC International Bureau said in a public notice in Wednesday's Daily Digest. The overhaul was adopted in December (see 1512170036). It comes with some changes in filing procedures, including use of the web-based Schedule S form becoming mandatory Monday, pro forma assignments or transfers of control of licenses held by telco carriers no longer requiring prior approval, and pro forma assignments or transfers of control by entities that aren't telco carriers being deemed granted one business day after filing as long as the applicant fills out the proper certifications. Notifications of pro forma transfer of control of a receive-only earth station are no longer required, and the bureau will begin accepting applications under the optional two-part licensing process for first-step applications and applications of "non-routine" transmissions starting at 2 p.m. Monday.

Comcast's NBCUniversal reached a long-term carriage pact with AT&T and the telco-TV provider's DirecTV, extending and expanding an existing deal, the companies said Tuesday. "DIRECTV and U-Verse customers will continue to have access to NBCUniversal broadcast and cable networks live and on-demand through linear TV, online, and TV Everywhere apps." The DBS provider also can pick major sporting events in 4K Ultra HD, under the deal, which includes streaming service DirecTV Now, which AT&T plans to launch in Q4.