The FCC's spectrum rules for communications with commercial space launch vehicles "need only minor improvement and not wholesale replacement," Boeing officials told FCC Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) staff, according to an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in docket 13-115. Boeing said it expects to do RF testing this summer and fall -- under an FCC experimental license -- of its reusable Crew Space Transportation (CST)-100 vehicle, with the first launch expected in 2017. It said federal-only launch spectrum at 429-430 MHz, 2200-2290 MHz and 5650-5925 MHz needs to remain under federal control because of public safety risks, and co-primary allocation for nonfederal launches "could result in unnecessary confusion over the control of the launch spectrum." On the timing concerns nonfederal users of federal-only launch spectrum face when trying to schedule launch operations, Boeing said issuing experimental authority for longer approval periods could cut that delay risk. It also recommended issuing experimental authority for multiple launches at a single location within a two- to five-year span as a means of tackling the problem of nonfederal users being able to complete only a single launch under six-month special temporary authority grants. And Boeing said it saw no reasons for the FCC to adopt formal rules for nonfederal launch operations since the commercial launch industry already is covered by FAA licensing and regulatory requirements and those have "functioned successfully to ensure the reliability and safety of this growing industry." Those at the meeting included OET Chief Engineer Julius Knapp and Audrey Allison, Boeing senior director-frequency management services.

Screen crawls warning Dish Network subscribers about possible dropping of NBC programming violate contracts the network has with Dish, the DBS company said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Rockford, Illinois. NBCUniversal Media "decided to bombard Dish subscribers with prohibited messages" on their screens, on NBCU's Facebook page and on a new NBCU website, Dish said, saying because of the difficulty getting a lost subscriber back, it "has incurred and will continue to incur substantial damages as a result." Dish said its retransmission consent and affiliation agreements signed with NBCU March 13, 2013, include prohibited message language, and NBCU began its campaign on Monday. In the suit, Dish asks for unspecified financial damages. NBCU didn't comment.

Since EchoStar 10 seemingly has another 11 years of operational life, Dish Network is seeking to extend the license term for the satellite until April 10, 2027. In an FCC International Bureau filing Friday, Dish said it seeks a license modification because the current license expires April 10, but the satellite's fuel consumption and estimated end of life would justify the extension.

DirecTV wants to hand its Sky-Mexico 1 satellite license over to its Novavision Group affiliate, with the aim of allowing Novavision to keep providing HD programming to Mexican and Central American subscribers, Novavision said in FCC International Bureau filing Friday. Once reassigned, Sky-Mexico 1 will still operate in accordance with ITU filings at its 78.8 degrees west location, said Novavision, which is owned by DirecTV and Grupo Televisa. According to the filing, Novavision has used the satellite since its May launch to provide direct-to-home TV service to Mexican and Central American consumers.

ViaSat expects an explosion in data capacity with launches of ViaSat-2 next year and then launches in 2019 and 2020 of ViaSat-3 Americas and ViaSat-3, CEO Mark Dankberg told FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, the company said in an ex parte filing Friday in docket 14-177. ViaSat 3 will deliver 100-plus Mbps of residential service, enabling 4K video streaming and fiber competition, plus up to 1 Gbps speeds for mobile and corporate enterprise applications, ViaSat said. The company also said it believes in shared use of the 28 GHz band with terrestrial operators. ViaSat said it recommended the Connect America Fund Phase II reverse auction be technology neutral by allowing competition by all technologies and service providers.

Any public notice about Globalstar's proposed terrestrial low-power service should make clear the FCC has the final say on an acceptable TLPS/Wi-Fi coexistence testing process, Public Knowledge said in an ex parte filing Monday in docket 13-213. It recapped a meeting between PK Senior Vice President Harold Feld and FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler adviser Edward Smith, at which PK said Feld had suggestions for any agency approval of TLPS, including making clear that if accommodation fails, the agency "must have clear processes by which it will adjudicate spectrum interference claims." The FCC also should say TLPS intrudes into spectrum allocated for public use and thus carries a bigger burden to benefit and protect public spectrum, PK said. The group said the FCC should move quickly on issuing a public notice on unlicensed use of the 5.9 GHz band, and include three key questions in it: (1) Should the FCC seek comment on whether to impose noncommercial conditions on the portion of the 5.9 GHz band used for life and safety operations or the entire 75 megahertz of it? (2) What value is there of allocating spectrum to dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) systems when automakers already have anticollision systems using unlicensed Ultra-Wide Band (UWB) systems and what level of DSRC inference protection would be harmful given that UWB systems will be the primary anticollision protection provider for autos in the foreseeable future? (3) What privacy and cybersecurity rules might be needed for DSRC?

Gogo wants permission to have as many as 200 earth station aboard aircraft (ESAA) terminals communicate with the Galaxy 17 satellite, it said in an FCC International Bureau filing Thursday. In its special temporary authority application, Gogo said such approval would let it "respond to urgent customer demand for additional capacity on flights" quickly, while it awaits FCC action on its application to modify its ESAA license to include Galaxy 17 as a point of communication.

Sky invested $6 million in fuboTV, a U.S.-based video streaming service that provides “a premium, over-the-top bundle” of sports TV channels, Sky said in a Thursday announcement. Though it launched just a little more than a year ago, fuboTV “has quickly become the second largest aggregator and distributor of linear OTT sports content in the U.S., growing to more than 40,000 subscribers,” Sky said. The service is available in English, Spanish and Portuguese through a range of platforms and devices, and has landed U.S. distribution deals with TV channels that hold rights to major worldwide sporting events, including live soccer matches from more than half of the leading international leagues and tournaments, Sky said.

AT&T’s announcement that DirecTV will beam all four rounds of next month's Masters golf tournament in Ultra HD (see 1603090060) “is terrific and will spur further interest” in 4K TVs, CTA President Gary Shapiro emailed us Wednesday. But Shapiro stopped well short of calling the DirecTV initiative a “tipping point” for Ultra HD as he had called the launch of ESPN HD and its impact on HDTV adoption. Ultra HD 4K TVs are “already successful, consumers are buying millions of sets and it is doing great as more programmers realize consumers love it!” Shapiro said.

Lockheed Martin and Orbcomm plan to jointly pursue machine-to-machine business opportunities that use satellite or hybrid satellite/cellular networks, they said in a news release Thursday. Lockheed Martin Space Systems Vice President-Strategy and Advanced Programs Dave Markham said that "the vision of the Internet of Things promises to change how society benefits from machines embedded with greater intelligence, improving the decisions organizations make and ultimately the quality of service delivered to their end users." The companies said that they will focus on the government sector, with the collaboration potentially involving joint business development and new services.