The National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) Systems Engineering Forum testing of the effects on GPS receivers of adjacent band operations ignores Ligado's agreement with major GPS manufacturers and improperly disregards cutting-edge government testing over "outdated tests with erroneous criteria and other problems," Ligado said in docket 11-109 filing Friday. It said the PNT Forum's report runs contrary to what major GPS manufacturers believe, and said the Forum report insistence on using 1 dB change in noise floor as an interference protection criteria is fatally flawed. Ligado said the 1 dB metric isn't applicable to adjacent band emissions since it's been applied only to emissions in the same band, and that it's not accurate or reliable since testing has shown a 1 dB change doesn't correlate to actual degraded performance of a GPS device. Using the 1 dB metric shows "basic misunderstanding of spectrum policy and well-established law" by the Forum, Ligado said, saying the Forum is "effectively grant[ing] a form of 'adverse possession' to all GPS devices ... over nearby bands." Ligado said the Forum has no spectrum management expertise or authority. The filing included a letter sent to the National Executive Committee for Space-Based PNT also criticizing the Forum report. The PNT National Coordination Office didn't comment. The Forum report, issued in March, said National Advanced Spectrum and Communications Test Network (see 1702160056) and others did significant testing of Ligado's proposed LTE network and compatibility with Global Navigation Satellite System spectrum, but its own analysis found that testing scope and framework insufficient. It said other test data from such sources as the FCC, Transportation Department and the Forum are sufficient for determining the maximum aggregate power level of transmissions in GPS adjacent bands.

Intelsat wants to add some Ku- and Ka-band frequencies and remove some Ka-band frequencies from its pending application for its Galaxy 14R satellite (see 1705250004), which it renamed Galaxy 30. In an FCC International Bureau filing Tuesday, the company said it wants to add the 10700-10950 MHz, 11200-11450 MHz,12750-13250 MHz, 19300-19400 MHz and 19600-19700 MHz bands while removing 18800-19200 MHz and 28600-29000 MHz from its application. It also asked for authority to provide radio navigation satellite service using 1165.45-1187.45 MHz, 1564.42-1586.42 MHz, 6597.58-6619.58 MHz, and 6648.73-6670.73 MHz bands.

Commercial space companies saw 20 deals totaling $975.8 million in nongovernment equity investment in Q1, Space Angels said Tuesday in its quarterly space investment report. The commercial launch industry got 72 percent of such investment in 2017 and that's likely to continue this year, with a particular emphasis on small satellite launch services, it said. The U.S. had 60 percent of the investing activity, it said. Most of the investment came from venture capital and angel sources, it said.

Arguments that SOM1101 owner Greg Wyler has a controlling interest in OneWeb under the FCC's Section 25.159(b) rules (see 1802130019 and 1803230004) "are strained and unsupported," SOM1101 representatives told International Bureau officials in a meeting recapped in an ex parte filing posted Monday. SOM1101 said no one involved with it has de jure or de facto control of another applicant in a fixed satellite service processing round before the agency. They said substituting SOM1101 for Boeing in some of Boeing's non-geostationary orbit applications wouldn't constitute a major or substantial amendment under the FCC's Section 25.116 rules, but even if it did the public interest benefits of that substitution justify a waiver of either rule.

Despite Inmarsat/SES/ViaSat assertions earlier this month about earth stations in motion operations' ability to operate in spectrum currently used by Iridium (see 1804040060), the record shows the opposite -- that ESIMs shouldn't be allowed in non-geostationary orbit uplink bands at all, "let alone -- as these three companies now suggest -- without any obligation to comply with existing coordination rules," Iridium emailed us.

The NFL Sunday Ticket has increased the number of televised NFL games, enhanced competition and helped create what even the antitrust complaint against the league and DirecTV admits is huge NFL viewership, said defendant appellees DirecTV and the NFL in a docket 17-56119 answering brief (in Pacer) filed Friday with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. They said the plaintiffs' challenge of the NFL/DirecTV distribution agreement and the NFL/individual teams' license agreement don't account for the Sports Broadcasting Act's protections exempting from antitrust scrutiny the NFL's licensing of its member teams' broadcast rights. The appellees also said it's well-established precedent that exclusive distributorships are presumed to be legal. They also said the existence of free over-the-air NFL broadcasts precludes exercise of market power. The appellants are challenging a lower court's dismissal last year of their complaint (see 1804020003). Appellant counsel didn't comment Monday.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision that Ace American Insurance has no duty to defend or indemnify Dish Network in a Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) telemarketing lawsuit (see 1802220063) puts Colorado "out of step" with every other state where the issue has come up and "sows discord" on doctrine, Dish said in a docket 17-1140 petition (in Pacer) for a panel rehearing and rehearing en banc posted Friday. Dish said the panel decision makes it impermissible under Colorado law to insure statutory liquidated damages for even purely accidental violations, creating "an unnecessary windfall" for insurers that long have recognized they need to include TCPA exclusions in insurance policies in order to deny coverage. It said Ace's argument that Colorado public policy barring insurance coverage for some types of wrongful coverage included for TCPA statutory damages has been repeatedly raised in many states by insurers, but was always rejected until the 10th Circuit, that result being "confusion and disruption." Ace outside counsel didn't comment Monday.

Analytical Space, through its RaDiX cubesat scheduled to launch May 1, plans to test laser communications data downlinks, according to an FCC Office of Engineering and Technology experimental license issued Thursday. The optical receiver station is in Fairbanks, Alaska, the company said.

The FCC likely will again deny Dish Network and designated entities SNR Wireless and Northstar Wireless bidding credits, and Dish likely will have to again head to court, New Street Research analyst Jonathan Chaplin emailed investors Thursday evening. He said despite the loosened Dish control of the DEs (see 1804040004), the company faces "seemingly anti-Dish stance" by the FCC. If the agency rules against the Dish DEs, they likely will sue, with the issue ultimately not getting resolved until 2020 or 2021, he said. If the DEs succeed, the question becomes whether the DEs can reclaim the relinquished AWS-3 spectrum licenses without any further payments, he said.

ThinKom Solutions and Comsat jointly tested and validated continuous high-speed satellite communications in a moving vehicle under a range of conditions, they said Thursday. They said the 5,000-mile demonstration used a roof-mounted ThinKom phased-array satellite antenna on an SUV, while Comsat provided connectivity using commercial Ku-band satellites and terrestrial networks. They said the vehicle will be in Washington over the coming months for demos.