ViaSat contracted with SpaceX for launch of one of its Ka-band ViaSat-3 satellites sometime in 2020-22, it said Thursday.

Hughes Network Systems said FCC distribution of new USF support for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands without an auction must contain "clear and unambiguous" criteria for scoring the network "resiliency, cost, timing and performance" of bids considered by a neutral third party. The satellite provider has concerns about distributing "Stage 2" support without an auction, but backed an "objective, non-auction format for this one-time funding allocation" to "expediently restore and expand resilient broadband communications" to the hurricane-struck islands, it said, posting Tuesday in docket 18-143. It responded to a staff request at a Sept. 12 meeting. The company recommended a "rubric, based on the Commission’s four enumerated priorities -- 40 points for price per location; 20 points for network resiliency; 20 points for network deployment timing; and 20 points for network performance." Puerto Rico Telephone Co. urged increasing the Stage 2 budget for fixed service providers and giving the carrier a right of first refusal, it said in meetings its CEO Enrique Ortiz de Montellano and others had with Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel, Brendan Carr and aides to all four commissioners. It discussed how to "structure an alternative competitive request for proposal process, if necessary."

The FTC's $3.95 billion lawsuit against DirecTV is over. U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam of Oakland Monday signed off on a stipulation (in Pacer, docket 15-cv-01129-HSG) the litigation is voluntarily dismissed with prejudice and the two sides agree to bear their own costs. The judge in August threw out some of the false advertising claims against the direct broadcast satellite company (see 1808160070).

Satellite operators proposing clearing part of the C-band for terrestrial use upped the amount of the 3.7-4.2 GHz band they believe can be cleared. The C-Band Alliance -- made up of C-band users Intelsat, SES, Eutelsat and Telesat -- said Monday it could clear up to 200 MHz within 18 to 36 months of a final FCC order. The operators previously identified 100 MHz (see 1802120043).

Microsatellite launch company Vector raised $70 million in Series B funding, it said Friday. Over the next few months, it plans to expand its sales and marketing teams and break ground on its launch vehicle factory in Tucson.

The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology OK'd an experimental license for BlackSky Global's prototype Global-1 low earth orbit remote sensing satellite, said a posting Thursday. BlackSky said last year the satellite would be the start of what it plans to be a larger constellation. The first four satellites of that constellation received NOAA approval in August 2017.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and an aide to Commissioner Brendan Carr met aviation, satellite communications and weather data groups with concerns about Ligado's proposed broadband terrestrial low-power service, said a docket 12-340 posting Friday. The groups said economic, public safety and consumer benefits of GPS, satellite communications, aviation and environmental satellite data communities "are too important to jeopardize" with Ligado's service, calling its benefits "speculative." They said it would threaten reliability of position, navigation and timing services like GPS, undermine investment in commercial satellite systems by changing the interference environment, and take 40 MHz of spectrum from satellite use. They are Aerospace Industries Association, Airlines for America, Aviation Spectrum Resources, Iridium, Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation and Narayan Strategies. Ligado emailed that "as needs emerge and technology evolves, spectrum bands will transition. The 3.5 GHz (CBRS), 5.9 GHz, C-band, and L-band proceedings are all evidence of that principle and that the country is moving forward to achieve ‘5G First’. We are prepared upon FCC approval to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to help build this 5G future.”

Amazon Echo owners can get three free months of SiriusXM by subscribing to a new SiriusXM Premier Streaming or All Access subscription, the companies said Thursday, the first phase of a marketing agreement. SiriusXM All Access ($20.99 per month) offers all 150 channels available on the satellite service plus streaming via app; Premier Streaming ($15.99) offers more than 200 channels on demand and SiriusXM Video. New customers opting into the offer will get a free Echo Dot with a six-month service commitment. It's part of Sirius’ “Bring Us Home” campaign to expand penetration beyond cars. Existing SiriusXM subscribers who upgrade from SiriusXM Select to the All Access package can get an Echo Dot.

Clearing part of the C-band for terrestrial use may mean a windfall in the mid to high single-digit billions of dollars for Intelsat and SES, available for eliminating debt and investing in new constellations and services, Northern Sky Research analyst Gagan Agrawal blogged Thursday. The two have close to 90 percent of the C-band capacity in the U.S., largely for video distribution, but spectrum rights are expiring next decade and the performance of the C-band business is declining due to capacity pricing issues and over-the-top competition to pay TV, NSR said. Compensating cable head-ends for filters and ground equipment could cost around $900 million, it said. Other costs could include SES and Intelsat each needing to put up a new satellite to retain video customers with Ku-band service. It said the entire value of 3.7-4.2 GHz, minus 50 to 100 MHz for a guard band, could be $60 billion-$75 billion. However, it said, regulators might force C-band satellite operators to invest proceeds in an already saturated U.S. market, reducing the ultimate cash benefit.

Univision is complaining to the FCC and FTC about -- and suing Dish Network over -- advertising by the direct broadcast satellite company featuring Univision, even though its content went dark on Dish at June's end (see 1807020030). Dish said the marketing materials were an oversight. In a letter dated Monday to the agencies' chairmen, Univision said Dish made "excuses" for its materials but continued to market Univision program services months after they were dropped and Dish should waive cancellation fees for customers who signed up since June 30 and release from contract customers who had watched the broadcaster extensively. In a docket 17-cv-05148-AJN-OTW amended answer and counterclaim (in Pacer) last week in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Univision alleged Dish did false advertising, breached a contract and infringed trademarks for advertising on its website and on flyers and the site of a Dish retailer that Dish still distributed Univision services. Dish sought unspecified damages and permanent injunction against using Univision logos and marks when it doesn't have a right to distribute that programming. Dish emailed it's "a business dispute," with Univision demanding "considerably" higher fees "despite a material decline in its overall ratings." It said when channels went dark, it tried to remove references on marketing materials and websites, but the logos of some Univision channels were inadvertently left on regarding a package and have been removed. It's providing its DishLatino customers with a $5 monthly credit, replacement content and antennas in select markets.