Intelsat signed a multi-year agreement with RRsat to expand direct-to-home service in North America. RRsat will use capacity on Intelsat’s Galaxy 19 located at 97 degrees west, Intelsat said in a press release (http://bit.ly/1ijW70e). The satellite distributes content originating from 66 countries in more than 40 languages via a Ku-band, DTH platform, it said.

DirecTV signed a multi-year deal with WeatherNation to continue offering DirecTV subscribers local, regional and national weather news. WeatherNation provides HD coverage of current and severe weather news and information, and real-time storm tracking, DirecTV said in a news release Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1dS20V5). The channel has been available for DirecTV customers since the DBS company severed ties with The Weather Channel following a carriage agreement impasse (CD Jan 15 p20).

Gogo projected that the ground network to develop a non-geostationary satellite system in the 14.0-14.5 GHz band could be completed in about two years. Developing the equipment and obtaining initial Federal Aviation Administration certification for the airborne components could be accomplished in 18-24 months, it said in an ex parte FCC filing in docket 13-114 (http://bit.ly/1jrQ78j). With the airborne and ground equipment efforts proceeding on roughly parallel tracks, “a licensee could easily commence service within the five year substantial service deadline Gogo suggested in its comments,” it said. Competition would best be served by dividing the proposed 500 MHz band into four 125 MHz licensees, it said. A four-license band plan “would provide the best opportunity to alleviate capacity constraints for the several providers already operating in the sector,” it said. Gogo also reiterated its support for the proposed substantial-service safe harbor, saying that “there would be no reason for the safe harbor to vary depending on the number of licensees in the band, given that market realities would require each provider to offer a nationwide service.” Qualcomm proposed establishing the air-to-ground service in the band (CD Feb 10 p14).

A Littleton, Colo., homeowners association failed to present evidence justifying its rules on satellite dish installation, said the Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association in reply comments to the FCC Media Bureau Monday (bit.ly/ORegKm). The comments concern a petition from Littleton resident Rhonda Rivenburg that the satellite installation rules of the Dutch Ridge Home Owners Association are preempted by the FCC’s over-the-air reception devices rule (CD Feb 7 p18). The association hasn’t demonstrated why rules that the association says allow dishes to be installed on residents’ back porches prevent Rivenburg from installing a dish on a storage unit on her back porch, SBCA said. The FCC should “grant Ms. Rivenburg’s petition and declare the Association’s rules regarding satellite-dish installation to be preempted and unenforceable,” SBCA said.

Sasken Communication Technologies said it delivered full-phone development of Inmarsat’s IsatPhone 2 satellite mobile handset. The phone was developed in “multiple locations around the globe working in tandem,” including in Finland for hardware design, India for software development and integration, and satellite-specific testing in parts of Europe and North America and in Indonesia, said Sasken in a news release Monday (http://bit.ly/OS6BuK).

M7 Group, a Luxembourg pay-TV provider, will use capacity on Eutelsat 9A to start a new pay-TV platform in Hungary. M7 and Eutelsat signed a long-term contract for two 33 MHz transponders on the satellite to broadcast the new platform, Eutelsat said in a Thursday news release (http://bit.ly/1h1JGEp). The platform is composed of 55 of the most popular Hungarian channels and 12 HD channels, and it’s available for direct-to-home reception via Eutelsat 9A, Eutelsat said.

SES requested a 60-day extension of an existing special temporary authority to begin using a new 6.3-meter antenna with the NSS-9 and IS-18 satellites. The FCC previously granted SES an STA for a similar purpose, the company said in its application to the International Bureau (http://bit.ly/1fKB2Jt). SES seeks the extension pending the grant of regular earth station authority, it said.

The 1695-1710 MHz band should be auctioned as a single, unpaired 15 MHz band, Dish Network said in an ex parte filing in docket 13-185 (http://bit.ly/1dq0QdL). There’s no need to adopt the proposed 20 dBm effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP), “which will increase device and deployment costs,” it said. “Technical solutions can adequately safeguard the protection zones without device power limit.” The licensee of this spectrum should have the option of paying for the relocation of the affected government sites in the top 100 markets, instead of coordinating with NTIA, it said. For the lower J block, the licensee’s uplink/downlink designation “should be tied to Dish’s election of the lower AWS-4 band.” Dish’s AWS-4 band consists of 2000-2020 MHz. Whether Dish elects downlink or uplink operations for AWS-4 by June 20, 2016, the J block also should be designated as such, it said. The bands 1755-1780 MHz and 2155-2180 MHz should be paired at auction, Dish said. Dish proposed a standard out-of-band emission limit of -13 dBm per MHz and Third Generation Partnership Project device power level of 25 dBm EIRP for uplink. Dish presented its proposals during phone calls last week with FCC staff from Chairman Tom Wheeler’s office, the Wireless Bureau and Commissioner Mignon Clyburn’s office, it said.

Airbus Defence and Space mobilized five of its satellites to help the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared March 8. Satellites, including Pleiades 1A and Spot 5, are taking images of the search zone, Airbus said in a press release (http://bit.ly/1cRNThY). All the data collected is analyzed by the company’s maritime experts and provided to the Malyasian Remote Sensing Agency, it said. Its radar satellite TerraSAR-X can identify layers of hydrocarbon as well as oil slicks or metallic objects floating in the sea, it said.

Since Intelsat and Inmarsat were privatized, consumers have benefited from robust services and the satellite market is competitive, the companies said in comments to the FCC on The Open-Market Reorganization for the Betterment of International Telecommunications (ORBIT) Act report. Inmarsat’s forthcoming Ka-band network, Global Xpress, is the result of a $1.2 billion investment into three Ka-band satellites, Inmarsat said (http://bit.ly/1iG8rIr). Inmarsat has partnered with several satellite industry companies, like iDirect and Cobham/SeaTel, to help deploy Global Xpress, it said: “Inmarsat’s land portfolio has and will continue to grow in the low data rate services.” Intelsat continues to invest heavily “to keep its satellite fleet technologically current,” the satellite operator said in comments (http://bit.ly/1dW1rY8). It has nine satellites in the design or build stages, including several next-generation high-throughput Intelsat Epic satellites, it said. The goals of the ORBIT Act have been fully achieved and the reporting requirement “now is an unnecessary burden on limited commission resources,” it said. The comments will be reflected in the FCC’s annual report to Congress (CD Feb 13 p17).