Dish Network and the Weather Channel signed a multiyear renewal contract, Dish said Tuesday. Customers will continue to have access to The Weather Channel and its interactive app on Dish's Hopper and other select set-top boxes, Dish said. The agreement includes over-the-top streaming rights for live and VOD content, it said. The Weather Channel will be added to Sling TV by July, Dish said.

The FCC should encourage service providers to adopt the Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council’s best practices on battery backup power instead of imposing a mandatory requirement, said EchoStar subsidiary Hughes Vice President-Regulatory Affairs Jennifer Manner and other company staff during a Thursday meeting with members of the Public Safety Bureau and Office of Strategic Planning & Analysis. Hughes staffers also discussed what they believe is the best approach to implementing the CSRIC battery backup best practices, the company said in an ex parte filing Monday.

Six satellite operators and manufacturers unveiled the SAT>IP Alliance, formalizing a coalition started last year to develop compatible hardware and software for the SAT>IP technology. It was announced at NAB Show in Las Vegas, said an SES news release Wednesday. The alliance includes ALi Corporation, Hispasat, MaxLinear, Nagra, Panasonic and SES. The organization will promote the use of the SAT>IP protocol in the industry and improve the standard, SES said. SAT>IP technology "converts satellite signals into IP at the reception point using a small server, which may be located in the satellite dish or in the user's home, and distributing the signal to the different IP devices such as tablets, smartphones and laptops," SES said. It allows for high-quality content via satellite, SES said.

Globalstar's terrestrial low-power service (TLPS) will have a negative impact on Wi-Fi, resulting from channel 14 TLPS, CableLabs said in an ex parte notice posted at the FCC Tuesday in docket 13-213. The impact varies depending on the type of Wi-Fi equipment, it said. There was 65 percent reduction to channel 11 downlink with a residential access point, "more significant throughput degradation" than with an enterprise access point, CableLabs said. Globalstar's and CableLabs' measurements are only useful for deployment situations that Globalstar, if authorized, would use, CableLabs said. "If Globalstar would be provided the flexibility to use LTE instead of 802.11 Wi-Fi technology, or the ability to operate outdoors, or otherwise deploy TLPS in a manner not represented in the demonstration, then the utility of the demonstration data is limited," it said. There were inconsistent results with latency and jitter in the TLPS demos, likely caused by equipment setup and ambient noise, CableLabs said. "These inconsistent results demonstrate the need for further testing in a controlled environment," CableLabs said.

Dish expanded delivery of Netflix to its Joey clients, including Joey, Super Joey and Wireless Joey, Dish said in a news release Tuesday. Dish also added a Vevo app to its Hopper platform, it said. Netflix is available on Hopper's accompanying Joey units for second-, third- and fourth-room viewing, it said. Dish launched a Netflix app on its second-generation Hopper digital video recorder in December.

Inmarsat-5 F2, the second Global Xpress satellite (see 1501200055), successfully completed orbital deployment, Inmarsat said in a news release Tuesday. The satellite's thermal radiator panels were deployed and the payload was switched on, Inmarsat said. The next phase is payload testing, which is expected to take three weeks, it said. Inmarsat-5 F3, the third Global Xpress satellite, is scheduled to launch before the end of Q2, which will complete a globally available Ka-band mobile broadband satellite network, it said. Inmarsat is also collaborating with Honeywell Aerospace and Kymeta on an in-flight Internet connectivity system, it said in another news release Tuesday. The companies will offer a fast, lightweight Ka-band antenna for the business and commercial aviation market, it said. Kymeta will offer its mTenna products to Honeywell, which will test and integrate them into its JetWave aviation product line, Inmarsat said.

Sling TV added HBO to its programming for $15 a month, Sling TV said in a news release Thursday. Subscribers to Sling TV's Best of Live TV core package and select Sling International programming packages can now watch HBO, it said. HBO's main live channel, a VOD library and three streams of HBO are available for Sling TV customers, it said.

LightSquared filed a transfer of control application at the FCC Monday, as expected (see 1504010016), posted in inbox 63.04. "This filing is the next step in completing the company's exit from bankruptcy," a company spokesman said. If the application is granted, it will assign spectrum licenses to a reorganized LightSquared, called New LightSquared, a satellite industry lawyer said. He said New LightSquared also filed a request for an FCC declaratory to approve the reorganized company's foreign ownership, which is about 70 percent, compared with more than 80 percent in a previous plan. The application and request for declaratory ruling are fairly standard, said Butzel Long satellite lawyer Stephen Goodman, who isn't involved in the bankruptcy. “The problem is it can introduce some delay because it means the FCC will have to coordinate with the Department of Justice and the FBI,” he said. “They require you to voluntarily enter into an agreement with them so they can review the officers and directors to make sure there’s no terrorists in the organization.” This can slow down the process, he said. The FCC wouldn't comment on the application, which has not been put out on public notice.

FCC proposed rules for terrestrial low-power service (TLPS) wouldn’t give Globalstar “exclusive operating rights within the unlicensed band segment,” the company said in an ex parte notice response to Google posted Tuesday in docket 13-213. Google raised concerns that if the commission approves Globalstar’s TLPS, it would be giving priority to the satellite operator (see 1504060025). The commission’s framework “will permit any party to use that spectrum, including for new technologies, as long as the operations meet the Part 15 rules,” Globalstar said. It said the 2473 to 2483.5 MHz band segment will "remain open to current and future Part 15-compliant services including, for example, Bluetooth, Zigbee, and innovative technologies that can better utilize this unlicensed spectrum." Unmanaged public Wi-Fi operations on Channel 14 could create interference for Globalstar’s mobile-satellite service (MSS) operations, it said. By managing TLPS, Globalstar can minimize interference to its MSS, it said. The commission should release emissions measurement results that -- like the Office of Engineering and Technology report, which was released April 2 (see 1504030047) -- don't require analyses or interpretation, Gerst Capital said in a comment posted Tuesday. The commission should also release spectrum analyzer photos for the transmit chains for all four access points used in the demos, Gerst said. Gerst called it "encouraging" to have TLPS-enabled hardware subject to formal radio frequency testing, but raised concerns that the coexistence filters on the access points weren't sufficiently tested. "I am concerned only two of the four Ruckus 7982 access points used in the TLPS demonstrations were tested," said manager of Gerst Capital Greg Gerst. "It would have been possible for Globalstar to configure the demonstrations in such a way as to avoid the coexistence filter problem without having to modify every access point, or even every transmit chain on every access point." Globalstar maintained in its comment that TLPS deployment won’t have detrimental effects on other unlicensed services at 2.4 GHz, including public Wi-Fi and Bluetooth devices.

Outside Television joined Dish Network's Multi-Sport Pack of premium sports entertainment on channel 390 in a multiyear agreement, Dish said in a news release Monday. Outside Television, based on Outside magazine, is available to Dish customers through May 6 for a monthlong free preview, Dish said. Dish's Multi-Sport Pack offers more than 35 channels of analysis, in-depth coverage and live games, it said.