OneBeacon Insurance's argument that a U.S. District Court jury was wrong in awarding exemplary damages and additional damages "is an odd argument considering it was OneBeacon that insisted on allowing the jury to award both ... rather than only one or the other," said Wade Welch and Wade Welch & Associates in a reply (in Pacer) Thursday in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. OneBeacon is appealing a 2014 jury verdict in favor of Welch, who was sued by OneBeacon after Dish Network separately received a $13 million judgment against the Welch firm for malpractice in its representation of Dish in a different civil claim altogether. OneBeacon's argument that its only mistake was in not accepting Dish's 2011 demand "oversimplifies the trial record and misstates its duty to its insured," said Welch the individual and the firm: The insurer's misconduct also includes its post-claim underwriting, "the deception it employed" in rejecting the Dish settlement "and its continued failure to effectuate a fair and reasonable settlement" after rejecting Dish's. The Welch entities said OneBeacon is offering a "frankly preposterous argument that a finding of 'gross negligence' under [Stowers Furniture Co. v. American Indemnity] is 'exactly the same' as a finding under [Texas Insurance Code] Section 541 that an insured acted 'knowing' the wrongfulness of its conduct." The Welch entities said that beyond rejecting the Dish settlement demand, OneBeacon "knowingly engaged in deceptive and unfair conduct to avoid effectuating a fair settlement of [the satellite company's] claim against Welch." Since the wrongful acts were separate, and subject to different standards of proof, "nothing prohibits two awards of punitive damages under these circumstances" and the court should restore the jury's $5 million award for gross negligence under the Stowers claim, the Welch entities said. OneBeacon didn't comment Friday. The insurance coverage dispute began with a 2003 Dish suit filed by Russian Media Group, which claimed Dish interfered with assets such as cable distribution contracts that RMG bought from SkyView World Media.

Luxembourg-based satellite provider SES launched a 24/7 Ultra HD test channel for transmitting HDR content, it said Thursday. It’s demonstrating the channel at its Industry Days event in Luxembourg this week. Attendees can view HDR implementations such as HDR 10, Dolby Vision, Hybrid Log Gamma (HLG) and the Technicolor/Philips solution on TVs from major manufacturers, said the company. Currently, SES carries Ultra HD content provided by LG using HLG and is demoing the HLG HDR content on LG’s E6 4K OLED TV, it said. HDR will be a “major improvement” for satellite TV on Ultra HD TVs, said SES’ Thomas Wrede, vice president-reception systems. SES has begun implementing “relevant HDR technology” at its Munich playout facility, he said.

Dish Network began shipping the $99 HopperGo, a personal mobile video drive it announced at CES (see 1601060011). The 64 GB device can store up to 100 hours of recorded video content from a Hopper 3 or Hopper 2 DVR for offline viewing, said Dish Thursday. HopperGo creates its own private wireless cloud that supports simultaneous viewing of different programs on up to five mobile devices via the Dish Anywhere app, said the company. It’s compatible with Android and iOS smartphones and tablets, plus Kindle Fire tablets, Dish said. The battery-powered device can stream for up to four hours on a charge, it said.

Globalstar took its case for its broadband terrestrial low-power service (TLPS) to the FCC's eighth floor, with a series of meetings with commissioners and their staff in recent days, said an ex parte filing Wednesday in docket 13-213. The filing recapped talks between Globalstar General Counsel Barbee Ponder and Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Mike O'Rielly and with aides to commissioners Ajit Pai and Mignon Clyburn. The company said it discussed its "continuing commitment to the success of its mobile satellite service," pointing to the deployment this year of its second-generation ground network. It also said it discussed TLPS public interest benefits as it helps ease congestion "diminishing the quality of 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi service at high-traffic 802.11 hotspots and other locations." Pointing to TLPS being a "good neighbor" to licensed and unlicensed services, Globalstar said "the evidence of benefits and compatibility ... substantially outweigh the theoretical concerns raised by competitors," and interference detection and mitigation techniques will be part of TLPS. It criticized Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) for not giving it or the FCC data from its demonstration supposedly showing TLPS interference to Bluetooth devices (see 1503130015), calling that "telling." Bluetooth SIG didn't comment Thursday. Globalstar said it supports a staged TLPS deployment since that would allow gradual expansion of operations "while providing extra safeguards to existing licensed and unlicensed services." FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has circulated a TLPS report and order that would do that (see 1605130059 and 1605200022).

SES and iN Demand renewed their capacity agreement for the pay-per-view and VOD company to retain two C-band transponders on the SES-3 satellite for delivery of HD sports and PPV programming to cable audiences in the Americas, SES said in a news release Wednesday. IN Demand also uses transponders on AMC-10 and AMC-11 for delivery of its content, SES said.

In-flight connectivity is more important than in-flight meals to most airline passengers, according to In-Flight Connectivity Survey results released Tuesday by Inmarsat and market research company GfK. Eighty-three percent choose an airline based on broadband availability, more than 60 percent are willing to pay for connectivity on flights, and 78 percent expect in-flight connectivity to replace in-flight entertainment within a decade, it said. Inmarsat said survey results came from more than 9,000 air passengers in Europe, Asia, Australasia, and Central and South America between August and March.

Four firms and attorneys -- Marc Seltzer of Susman Godfrey, Hollis Salzman of Robins Kaplan, Howard Langer of Langer Grogan and Scott Martin of Hausfeld -- were appointed co-lead plaintiffs' counsel in a class-action lawsuit against the NFL and DirecTV. In an order (in Pacer) Monday, U.S. District Judge Beverly Reid O’Connell of Los Angeles also ordered creation of a Plaintiffs' Steering Committee of Richard Koffman of Cohen Milstein and Arthur Murray of Murray Law Firm to co-chair it and three additional members to be determined by the co-lead plaintiffs' counsel and submitted to the court for approval. Dena Sharp of Girard Gibbs had objected to the proposal on the grounds she should be part of the leadership structure, and in her order the judge said the appointed firms "will best represent the plaintiffs in the case ... given these firms' and their respective attorneys' abilities to cooperate and make decision on behalf of the Plaintiffs thus far." Residential and commercial buyers of the NFL’s Sunday Ticket package through DirecTV are suing, alleging they broke antitrust laws by giving the satellite company exclusive rights to live out-of-market games (see 1512300027). In a separate order (in Pacer) Monday, the court ordered the 27 class-action complaints filed against DirecTV and the NFL be consolidated, saying those pending actions involve many of the same defendants and factual allegations and the defendants didn’t oppose consolidation. The consolidated complaint is to be filed by June 24, the judge ordered.

Wiley Rein became the Satellite Industry Association's first affiliate member, SIA said in a news release Monday. The trade group launched its affiliate membership category in 2015, aimed at companies and groups previously not eligible for membership.

While AMC-2 moves from 81 degrees west to 85 degrees west, Row 44 needs alternate capacity and is requesting special temporary authority (STA) from the FCC International Bureau to operate its earth stations aboard aircraft network using SES' AMC-6 satellite for 30 days. In an IB filing Friday, Row 44 said it anticipated beginning to shift traffic starting Monday. It also said it expects to use AMC-6 for at most six to eight weeks and will seek an additional STA once the initial 30 days are up. Row 44 said that once AMC-2 is relocated to 85 degrees west, the company expects to transition its Ku-band traffic back to that satellite.

Iridium launched what it's calling an alternative GPS system, Satellite Time and Location (STL). In a news release Monday, the satellite company said STL works across its 66-satellite low earth orbit constellation and provides position, navigation and timing services globally and can be used to verify or substitute for GPS, the Global Navigation Satellite System, Galileo and other navigation services. Iridium said STL also can augment GPS by providing a timing or position source when GPS signals are degraded or unavailable, and its signals penetrate into buildings. The company said its Iridium Next satellite constellation, scheduled for completion by late 2017, will also support STL.