Dish Network's Hopper 3 home DVR system is commercially available to subscribers, the company said in a news release Monday. Dish announced its Hopper 3 at CES last month (see 1601060011) and said it would launch the Netflix app for Hopper 3 and integrate Netflix results into its universal search feature "in the coming weeks.”

Eutelsat's Eutelsat 9B satellite is in geosynchronous transfer orbit following its launch and should be at its permanent home at 9 degrees east by March, Eutelsat said in a news release Saturday. The satellite will take over broadcasting more than 350 TV channels currently done at that position by Eutelsat 9A, and provide expansion capacity for new services and be part of the European Data Relay System, it said. Eutelsat will continue to provide commercial service from a different orbital location, it said.

A federal court won't rule on a class certification motion in a lawsuit against Dish Network until after the Supreme Court rules in a separate, related case before it. U.S. District Judge Lorna Schofield in Manhattan, in an order filed Thursday in Ernst et al. v. Dish and Sterling Infosystems, upheld a Dish motion for a stay. She said the Supreme Court's forthcoming decision in Spokeo v. Robbins will likely clarify issues about who has Article III standing in the case, and similar questions are at play in the Dish suit. The plaintiffs opposed the stay, saying the Dish suit is substantially factually different from the Spokeo suit. But Schofield said "while it is possible that the Supreme Court will decide Spokeo in a way that supports Plaintiff's position or does not impact this case, the [Spokeo] question ... is broad enough to suggest that the decision will shed light on the contours of Article III standing in the [Fair Credit Reporting Act] context." The 2012 suit alleges Dish and background check company Sterling violate the federal FCRA in their use of credit reports to do background checks on prospective employees or subcontractors (see 1512160017). The Spokeo case also deals with FCRA violation claims.

Intelsat last week 16 began its 10-week drift from 76.2 degrees west to 58.1 degrees west. In an FCC International Bureau filing Thursday, Intelsat said the satellite's drift began Jan. 22. The relocation was initially expected to begin in November and has been moved back twice by unspecified delays (see 1512230009).

Intelsat 29e, the first satellite in Intelsat's planned EpicNG high throughput constellation, launched Wednesday, the company said in a news release. Intelsat 29e took off from French Guiana on an Ariane 5 vehicle, and will operate at 310 degrees east, where it will replace Intelsat 1R, Intelsat said. The satellite will bring C- and Ku-band capacity to North and Latin America and the North Atlantic region, it said. The second EpicNG satellite, Intelsat 33e, targeting Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East, is expected to launch in Q3, it said.

The FCC is right that 29.1-29.25 GHz isn't suitable for mobile terrestrial broadband, and sharing it with satellite communications "would be difficult and perhaps impossible," Iridium said in a filing posted Thursday in docket 14-177. It responded to a spectrum frontiers NPRM (see 1510220057) -- which Iridium called "at times very (and perhaps too) complex." But Iridium said it concurred with the FCC that, despite moves to open up bands above the 24 GHz band for 5G, 29.1-29.25 GHz "provides little value to mobile carriers seeking large quantities of contiguous spectrum." The amount of contiguous spectrum available in the 29.1-29.25 GHz bands sits below the minimum thresholds supported by most participants in the proceeding, nor is there international support for using the band for mobile use, Iridium said. Iridium -- with feeder links operating in the 29.1-29.25 GHz spectrum -- said sharing would be problematic, given that steerable phased array antennas at its earth stations might necessitate sizable geographic buffers from 5G operators.

Pointing to Telstar 12 decommissioning sooner than expected, the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) is asking for special temporary authority (STA) to start using Telstar 12V as a point of communication. In an International Bureau filing Tuesday, CBN said it has a pending modification of its Form 312 before the FCC, seeking permanent authority to add Telstar 12V to its authorization, but decommissioning of Telstar 12 necessitates asking for an STA. Telstar 12's original decommissioning date of early February was moved up to Jan. 31, CBN said.

SES Gibraltar is asking for authorization to use its to-be-launched SES-15 in the U.S. market. The Gibraltar-licensed satellite will be at 129.15 degrees west and will replace the Ku-band capacity currently provided by its U.S.-licensed AMC-1, SES said in an FCC International Bureau filing Tuesday. SES said it wants to use SES-15's Ku-band capacity for direct-to-home service in the U.S. It also said it wants to add the satellite to the permitted list for services in the conventional Ku-band, and to the Ka-band permitted list for services in the 18.3-18.8 GHz, 19.7-20.2 GHz, 28.35-28.6 GHz and 29.25-30 GHz bands. And SES said it wanted authorization for the satellite to offer fixed satellite service capacity in the U.S. in the extended Ku-band, the appendix 30B bands and the 27.5-28.35 GHz bands. SES-15 is expected to launch in 2017, SES said, saying the satellite will carry a Wide Area Augmentation System payload for use with the U.S. Global Positioning System, but it will ask for market access in a separate petition.

The FTC failed to prove DirecTV customers don't see or understand the satellite company's disclosures of the terms of its premium channel offering because there's a lack of confused consumer testimony or any studies or research, DirecTV said in a reply filed Monday in federal court in support of its motion for partial summary judgment. The FTC sued DirecTV in 2015, alleging it wasn't properly communicating the early cancelation fees subscribers face if they sign up and then quit the service before two years (see 1503110042). A hearing on DirecTV's summary judgment motion is scheduled for Feb. 25 in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, with a trial in the case scheduled for Dec. 5. "There is no dispute that DirecTV repeatedly disclosed the material terms -- just the FTC's argument that disclosures made in hyperlinks or info-hovers do not pass [Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act] muster," DirecTV said. "Contrary to what the FTC may urge now, there is no rule that advertising disclosures cannot be made by info-hovers or hyperlinks, as long as consumers see and understand those disclosures. The FTC offers zero evidence here that consumers do not -- and it was the FTC's burden to do so." The FTC didn't comment Wednesday.

LightSquared continues to push the FCC to move on its request for reallocation for shared commercial use and for auction of 1675-1680 MHz spectrum, currently used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in docket 12-340, LightSquared said it met with Commissioner Mignon Clyburn aide Louis Peraertz to discuss LightSquared's use of that band for its proposed broadband network and its relinquishing of any terrestrial use of 1545-1555 MHz. LightSquared repeatedly has asked the FCC to put out a public notice by late spring on its coexistence agreements with GPS companies and license modification applications (see 1601140037). In an ex parte filing also posted Wednesday, Garmin said it also met with the FCC to discuss its settlement agreement with LightSquared.