Dish Network, as part of its defense against robocall claims, can pursue a mistake-of-law argument, but it can't use any information not also previously provided to plaintiffs, a federal judge in Illinois ruled in an opinion filed Thursday. U.S. District Judge Sue Myerscough of Springfield partially granted and partially denied motions brought by the FTC and California, Illinois, North Carolina and Ohio in their 2009 lawsuit, in which they allege violations of the telemarketing sales rule as Dish helped dealers use robocalls to deliver prerecorded messages (see 0903260144). In her opinion, Myerscough said Dish didn't initially bring up a mistake-of-law defense in its answer to the complaint, but the company's argument at summary judgment that when the calls were being made, the FTC allowed prerecorded calls to people with established business relationships to the company, "provided ... some notice of Dish's mistake-of-law defense." However, Dish can't use any evidence not provided to the plaintiffs in discovery unless it can show that failure "was substantially justified or harmless," Myerscough said.

LightSquared plans to set up an earth station in Carlsbad, California. In an FCC International Bureau filing Wednesday, the satellite company requested the Carlsbad station be added to its satellite carrier monitoring system license, alongside its already licensed hub earth station in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; its six stations scattered across North America; and a U.S.-based station authorized under a separate FCC license. The California earth station, like its others, would be used to monitor signal levels from such satellites as MSAT-1, MSAT-2 and SkyTerra 1, and the link between the earth station and hub station. LightSquared also requested approval for increasing the maximum equivalent isotropically radiated power density at its Cedar Hill, Texas, earth station.

Globalstar's terrestrial low-powered service (TLPS) plans need "controlled, quantitative testing" to answer questions about how the service might affect the adjacent public Wi-Fi band, Gerst Capital said in an ex parte filing Thursday in docket 13-213. The filing recapped a meeting with a Commissioner Mike O'Rielly staffer on coexistence testing, Gerst said. Such Globalstar testing done in March was set "well below 'real world' levels," Gerst said, saying the packet error rate at those levels raises questions about what would then happen at higher levels. Gerst has been a frequent TLPS plan critic (see 1509230064). Globalstar didn't comment.

Dish Network is expanding its Hopper service offerings and adding 4K programming, it said in a series of announcements Tuesday at CES. In a news release, Dish unveiled its 64 GB mobile video drive HopperGO, which allows carrying up to 100 hours of content from a Hopper DVR for offline viewing on mobile phones and tablets via the Dish Anywhere app. The $99 HopperGO will be available later in Q1, Dish said. It also announced its Hopper 3 DVR, which will include 16 tuners, expanding the capacity for viewers to watch programming in multiple rooms or set multiple recordings. Dish also said it would integrate Google's YouTube onto Hopper 3 and it would be the first major U.S. pay-TV provider to integrate Netflix titles into its universal search (see here). The Netflix app already is integrated into Dish's Hopper set-top boxes. And Dish said in a news release that a variety of Ultra HD content will be available on its Hopper 3 and its upcoming 4K Joey via Mance Media, Netflix, Sony Pictures and The Orchard.

After adding 2.3 million net subscribers in 2015, SiriusXM expects more modest 2016 net subscriber additions of 1.4 million, it said in guidance Tuesday. The satellite radio company said it ended the year with 29.6 million subscribers, 24 million of them self-pay. It had anticipated adding 2 million net subscribers in 2015.

The Defense Department's Joint Functional Component Command for Space hired Kratos Defense & Security Solutions to do end-to-end satellite RF monitoring, interference detection and mitigation services aimed at safeguarding the commercially leased spectrum used by the military's U.S. Central Command and U.S. Pacific Command, Kratos said in a news release Tuesday. Phil Carrai, president-Kratos' Technology and Training Solutions Division, said military communications' increasing use of commercial spectrum means "newer, lower cost methods of providing resiliency to interference are fostering the convergence of DOD and commercial protected communications applications."

LightSquared is seeking another extension of the life of its MSAT-2 space station. In an FCC International Bureau filing Thursday, the satellite company said it wanted extension of the license term of MSAT-2 through Dec. 31, 2016. It received a similar one-year extension in 2015, saying then that it wanted to keep MSAT-2 in operation as backup for its SkyTerra-1 satellite and to continue to provide service to customers who hadn't been transitioned to SkyTerra-1.

Intelsat hopes to launch its Intelsat 36 satellite in August. In an FCC International Bureau filing Thursday, it sought IB approval for the launch and to operate the satellite at 68.5 degrees east, where it would co-locate with Intelsat 20 and provide additional capacity in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. The company said Intelsat 36 will operate at some of the same frequencies as Intelsat 20, as well as at 3650-3700 MHz, 6675-6725 MHz, 11,200-11,450 MHz, 11,700-12,500 MHz, 13,000-13,250 MHz and 17,300-18,100 MHz.

A federal judge's denial of a motion to stay in a putative class action against an auto parts retailer is being cited to bolster arguments against a motion to stay filed by Dish Network in a related suit. The plaintiffs in Ernst et al. v. Dish and Sterling Infosystems on Tuesday filed a copy of a Dec. 18 ruling by U.S. District Judge Greg Kays of Kansas City, Missouri, in which Kays shot down a motion to stay by O'Reilly Automotive Stores in a Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) suit brought by a woman who charges she was unfairly denied employment there after O'Reilly ran a credit check on her. Dish and background check company Sterling face a similar FCRA-related suit for their use of credit reports to do background checks on prospective employees or subcontractors. Dish and Sterling are seeking a delay in the plaintiffs' motion for class certification, saying the Spokeo v. Robins case now before the Supreme Court -- which also involves alleged FCRA violations -- will affect class certification and court jurisdiction issues (see 1512160017). In Kays' ruling -- submitted as part of the Ernst et al. filing -- the judge said O'Reilly "will not be irreparably harmed if the stay is not granted" while the court waits for a decision in Spokeo. "Granted, Defendants face a risk of incurring what may turn out to be unnecessary expenses if the case is not stayed and the Supreme Court issues a favorable decision, but a risk of a monetary harm is not 'irreparable harm,' " Kays said. "Even if it were, the Court's interest in managing its docket and resolving this case in a timely fashion weighs against granting the motion."

As part of its internal corporate restructuring, General Dynamics has received FCC International Bureau approval of pro forma transfer of control of various fixed-satellite service licenses and authorizations. In an IB filing Monday, General Dynamics said that effective Jan. 1, General Dynamics' C4 Systems and Mission Systems would merge into General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems. All of the company's licenses would remain under General Dynamics control, the company said.