Changes to FCC rules on the construction, marking and lighting of antenna structures will be mostly welcomed by tower owners, a broadcast attorney said. The FCC amended its rules last week (CD Aug 11 p9). The rule changes are relatively straightforward, “and tower owners should be sure to take advantage of the new rules when they take effect,” said Pillsbury Winthrop attorney Paul Cicelski Friday in a blog post (http://bit.ly/1apzXs4). Key changes include voluntary antenna structure registration, accuracy of height and location data, and a new antenna structure registration requirement that gives tower owners “greater latitude regarding where they must post their Antenna Structure Registration numbers,” he said.

The FCC should be as transparent with broadcasters as possible as it conducts the incentive auction, said the Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition. It met with FCC officials including Incentive Auction Task Force Chairman Gary Epstein, Vice Chairman Howard Symons and Wireline and Wireless bureau staff last week, said an ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/1t2XcB4) posted in docket 12-268 Friday. “Providing broadcast station participants with complete visibility into actions in both the forward and reverse auctions will inform bidding decisions and strengthen broadcaster confidence in the integrity of the auctions,” said EOBC. The FCC could increase transparency by publicly releasing opening offers at the start of the auction, and after each reverse auction round disclose without identifying participants information about prices, offers, the amount of available spectrum, and reserve prices, it said. In the forward auction, the FCC should release detailed information about bids placed for each partial economic area, said EOBC.

The FCC seeks comment on a request by the Canadian government for coordination of its earth stations with U.S. terrestrial fixed stations. Comments are due Sept. 11, the commission said Tuesday in a public notice (http://bit.ly/1p2znrl). Canada made the request concerning two earth stations operating in the 3700-4200 MHz and 5925-6425 MHz bands, it said.

Astrium asked that authorizations for seven Ku-band hub antennas be added to its KA304 teleport license. Astrium wants to separate the authorizations for the hub antennas from the earth station on vessel authorizations, it said in its application to the FCC International Bureau (http://bit.ly/1opZbip).

TeleCommunication Systems (TCS) partnered with O3b Networks to make O3b’s satellite services available to U.S. government customers through contract vehicles and directly to commercial TCS customers. The partnership allows TCS to offer an affordable alternative for satellite bandwidth to government and commercial customers that need true broadband connectivity, it said.

Public Knowledge’s consent decree comments (http://bit.ly/1B0OMxJ) to the Justice Department were aligned with the sentiments of digital broadcasters. PK said the decrees help ward off the “anticompetitive” tendencies of performing rights organizations (PROs) (CD Aug 7 p9; Aug 6 p7; Aug 4 p12)). The decrees are an “important mechanism in encouraging the development of new legal music services, especially online,” said Jodie Griffin, PK senior staff attorney, in a Thursday news release (http://bit.ly/1oqkv6v). DOJ’s Antitrust Division is reviewing the existing consent decrees for PROs American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers and Broadcast Music Inc. (CD June 5 p9). Comments, which were due Wednesday, are expected to be publicly available this week, said an official associated with the review. “If we look to the publishers’ attempt to withdraw some of their rights from the PROs, we can see how the publishers have the incentive and ability to coordinate instead of compete,” said Griffin. She said DOJ should “ensure the consent decrees continue to protect competition in the music licensing market.”

Anomalies in station interference data used by the FCC to run models of post-incentive auction repacking may be caused by the way the commission’s TVStudy software is calculating station contours, said the Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition in informal comments posted Friday in docket 12-268 (http://bit.ly/1vmL4hx). NAB first identified the anomalies when it analyzed the FCC data (CD July 8 p4). “These distortions could have a major effect on both the incentive auction and the repacking,” said the coalition. When the software compares a station’s contours with others, it is using minimum effective power levels to make its calculations instead of actual station power levels, it said. This can make stations seem “more resistant to the effects of incoming interference” than they really are, the filing said. It is “unclear” why the FCC is using minimum effective radiated power levels in its calculations, said the coalition. It said the commission should clarify why it is using the ERP levels, and without a “compelling reason” eliminate them.

Wireless speculators bought Asian-owned or -oriented stations in anticipation of the FCC incentive auction, commented Asian Americans Advancing Justice in the 2014 quadrennial review proceeding (http://bit.ly/1pGHbhI). “The loss of these outlets will have a direct negative impact on Asian American communities who rely on these stations,” said the group, which uses the AAJC acronym, in comments posted in docket 14-50 Friday. To combat that, the FCC should “pursue all options to secure race- and gender-conscious programs to promote broadcast diversity,” said AAJC. To help analyze the effectiveness of diversity efforts, the commission should also make its data more accessible, said AAJC.

The FCC amended its rules to extend the deadline for consummating an approved earth or space station license assignment or transfer of control. The 60-day consummation period is extended to 180 days, the FCC said in an order released Friday (http://bit.ly/1nZXtnC). The amendment will give parties “greater flexibility to set closing dates, decrease the need to file extension of time requests, and harmonize this consummation deadline with that in other wireless services,” it said. The amendment involves a rule of agency procedure and doesn’t require a general notice or opportunity to comment, the FCC said.

Arianespace will launch the Eutelsat 172B satellite in 2017. The satellite will have a multibeam payload covering the Asia-Pacific region, “designed specially to support in-flight connectivity services aboard airliners,” Arianespace said Thursday in a news release. It will be launched on the Ariane 5 launch vehicle and it will carry C- and Ku-band payloads and a multibeam Ku-band payload to support in-flight broadband services, it said.