Matt Daneman

Panelists at a Digital Policy Institute webinar Wednesday called for the next Congress to undertake a major overhaul of laws dealing with the video market. "These video laws are from a while ago; they are not aging all that well," said Brent Skorup, a fellow at the George Mason University’s Mercatus Center. Echoing the sentiment by calling a rewrite "a no-brainer," Nicol Turner-Lee, a Brookings Institution fellow who recently left the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council, said a rewrite could be one rare area of bipartisan support. Some similarly have seen Congress as having a window for bipartisan action on such efforts as an overhaul of the 1996 Telecom Act (see 1611150038).

Eleven companies are proposing the launch of more than 5,000 non-geostationary satellite orbit (NGSO) space stations in the Ku- and Ka-bands in coming years that could in some way conflict with OneWeb plans for its own 720-satellite low earth orbit (LEO) constellation (see 1604290016). Tuesday was the deadline for processing round applications for NGSO satellites that would operate in the same frequency bands as OneWeb (see 1607180006). OneWeb Vice President-Regulatory Kalpak Gude told us the company sees the plethora of proposals as validation of its own plans. "I think the next step is for us all to review the plans that have been filed and see what are the coordination challenges," he emailed Wednesday. "The reality is that it is unlikely that all the systems get built but that some will. Coordination will no doubt be a challenge but engineers can craft solutions only when they see the real details of proposed systems." According to the FCC, staff will review the applications to ensure they are complete and then put them out on public notice.

A U.S. District Court finding in favor of BMG Rights Management in its torrent piracy lawsuit against Cox Communications ignores Congress' intent with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the practical limitations conduit ISPs have in addressing alleged infringement, multiple parties said in amicus curiae briefs filed Monday with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Various public interest, educational and library groups meanwhile pushed the appellate court to take a different approach to defining what is a repeat copyright infringer. BMG's response brief in the appeal is due Dec. 12.

Massachusetts is now a key battleground over the legal challenge to the FCC's 2015 effective competition order, with much of oral argument Thursday before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit revolving around how much the state is representative of the cable market. Stephen Kinnaird of Paul Hastings -- representing petitioners NAB, NATOA and the Northern Dakota County (Minnesota) Cable Communications Commission -- told us a decision on their appeal could take many months, given the multiplicity of issues involved and whether there is any dissent. "There is a lot to digest," he said.

Globalstar's attentions might move to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel and getting her to reconsider now that the company has scaled back its broadband terrestrial low-power service (TLPS) plans so as not to use unlicensed spectrum, observers and interested parties tell us. It's not clear if Commissioner Mike O'Rielly, who had been the subject of heavy lobbying by the satellite company (see 1611040050, 1609080073 and 1608240063), is interested in any compromise decisions, satellite industry consultant Tim Farrar emailed us. Rosenworcel and Commissioner Ajit Pai had voted against the Globalstar draft order in June (see 1606030041). Rosenworcel's office didn't comment.

Iridium's L-band Next satellite constellation could end up integrated into a number of Ka- and Ka-band constellations, providing a backup data route, CEO Matt Desch said Wednesday at a Wells Fargo investor conference. Satellite operators like OneWeb, SES and Intelsat "see us as a complement for them, a potential partner" with integrated networks, Desch said. He said given that OneWeb doesn't provide safety services and its bent pipe configuration means it has only spotty coverage until its entire satellite network is built out, dual-mode Iridium and OneWeb terminals could make sense. OneWeb didn't comment. Desch also said the company expects the first launch of its Next satellite constellation -- delayed by a September explosion during a preflight ignition test (see 1610270015) -- to come in December. After that 10-satellite launch, a second launch of 10 satellites should follow in about 90 days, he said, with the entire constellation in orbit by early 2018. Iridium's existing 800,000-plus subscribers won't notice any transition to the Next constellation, with satellites with longer design lives, more channels and higher waveforms than the current constellation, Desch said. He said the company will focus on such markets as safety services and maritime and aviation connectivity, staying away from the broadband mass market, which will see sizable amounts of capacity becoming available in the next five years. Desch also defended the company against criticisms by L-band rival Inmarsat that Iridium has overstated the data speeds Next could provide, saying such companies as Rockwell and L-3 wouldn't be building terminals for it if there was no market.

AT&T buying Time Warner is likely the first in a series of transactions that combine spectrum, networks and scale in video, Dish Network CEO Charlie Ergen said Wednesday during the company's Q3 earnings call. "You can imagine all the interesting things that might take place once this current auction is over," Ergen said. "If someone puts all the pieces together, and AT&T is on the path to do that, people on the sidelines have to do something different," he said, adding that Dish lacks the network leg of the stool. Ergen also said that while over-the-top services have huge growth potential, they also carry some business challenges. "OTT in general has the potential to be as big or bigger" than direct broadcast satellite, he said. "It's the next way to watch TV." But the ease of switching providers could create challenges for content providers, he said. A ruling from U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit regarding the designated entity appeal of the FCC decision on AWS-3 bidding credits (see 1601130062) should come sometime in the first half of 2017, Ergen said. There likely will be handsets that use Band 66 -- which includes AWS-3 spectrum -- before there's a network using the spectrum, Dish executives said. They said Qualcomm is shipping Band 66 chipsets, and Intel is likely to follow, while LG's V20 phone also supports the Band 66 configuration. Dish said the expectation is more Android devices will adopt it in 2017, though timing is murkier for iOS. In a note to investors, Citigroup analyst Jason Bazinet said the company's cash flow statement suggests a broadcast spectrum auction deposit of about $1.5 billion, meaning Dish could end up buying up to 100 MHz of nationwide spectrum. He also said that incumbent telcos have stretched balanced sheets, leaving Dish "as the only way [to] buy significant spectrum for equity."

While required to build fiber to 12.5 million homes by 2019 as one of the conditions of its purchase of DirecTV, that fiber buildout size could be a floor rather than a ceiling, AT&T Chief Financial Officer John Stephens said Wednesday during the Wells Fargo investor conference. "We would be willing to do more." Stephens also said DirecTV integration is ahead of schedule regarding cost management. "We kept [revenue generation] expectations tempered," he said. "We thought it would take a year to get things going, and it has." AT&T revenue expectations also have been hampered by a tepid U.S. economy, he said. While the carrier has announced a $35 price point for its upcoming DirecTV Now streaming service (see 1610250053), the company plans to subsequently add features and content that will result in other price points, he said. Stephens also said one aim of DirecTV Now is as an entry point to the market of 20 million or so U.S. households without pay TV, letting AT&T then try to bundle broadband or other services with it.

Fates of major media takeovers such as AT&T's planned buy of Time Warner now carry major question marks with the incoming Donald Trump administration, experts say. Uncertainty will surround the regulatory environment for such transactions until the heads of the DOJ and FCC are named, Dish Network CEO Charlie Ergen said Wednesday. Noted BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield, "Honestly, until we understand the extent of Trump’s views on the dangers of media industry consolidation, it is impossible to know what deals could get done under his administration."

The alleged collusion among multichannel video programming distributors that's the focus of a DOJ lawsuit against DirecTV is more commonplace than just the MVPDs' interactions with regional sports network (RSN) SportsNet LA, programmers tell us. No one in the pay-TV industry is shocked by the DOJ complaint calling AT&T-owned DirecTV the ringleader of an information-sharing cabal of MVPDs trying to negotiate with the RSN (see 1611020034), but there is surprise about how the DOJ got the information it cites in its complaint, one independent programmer CEO told us. AT&T, DOJ and NCTA didn't comment.