Aviwest, a global video contribution systems provider, is collaborating with Hughes Network Systems to improve delivery of video signals over Inmarsat's Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN), Aviwest said in a news release Tuesday. The Hughes 9211-high data rate (HDR) BGAN satellite terminal will transmit information in real time over an adaptive channel, and available satellite bit rate will increase above the minimum committed information rate level, it said. Aviwest's DMNG PRO video uplink system will compress video content according to network conditions, it said. This solution works for environments that lack Internet connection or have poor 3G or 4G cellular wireless network connections, Aviwest said. The provider will demonstrate a fully integrated system with DMNG PRO and Hughes 9211-HDR at the upcoming NAB Show in Las Vegas.

Dish Network expanded its Smart Home Services home entertainment installation to U.S. Amazon customers, Dish said in a news release Monday. The expansion coincides with the launch of Amazon's Home Services market, which lets Amazon customers compare installation offers from Dish and other service providers, it said.

Intelsat told front-office and other FCC International Bureau officials it opposes FCC two-degree spacing rules, said a filing posted Friday to docket 12-267. Nixing that separation would "remedy the competitive harm unfairly imposed on U.S. licensees and align U.S. licensing" with the ITU, said the satellite company. If the commission doesn't junk the rule, it should apply it only to beams serving all of the contiguous U.S., said Intelsat. It cited a recent order letting DirecTV build, launch and operate a Ku-band satellite: "As the FCC noted, beams that do not cover the U.S. are not in the scope of U.S. market access, need not be included in a two-degree spacing interference analysis, and are subject to the ITU’s satellite coordination procedures."

Intelsat got permission to modify its Intelsat 5 satellite to specify operations and extend the license term through Dec. 31, 2020, an order from the FCC on Friday said. The company can also conduct telemetry, tracking and command operations necessary to maintain the space station's orbital location, the order said.

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York City approved LightSquared’s reorganization plan Thursday, allowing the company to move forward with its plan to end its Chapter 11 bankruptcy trial and repay its top creditors. The plan, presented to Judge Shelley Chapman earlier this month, means certain creditors will received $400 million in cash, with $320 million going to SPSO, which is controlled by Dish Network CEO Charles Ergen. Any notes offered to creditors will be paid off over a five-year period. LightSquared would leave bankruptcy under the control of Centerbridge Partners and Fortress Investment Group (see 1503100066). LightSquared CEO Doug Smith said in a statement: “This has been a long journey, and today's ruling will allow us to emerge from Chapter 11 well-capitalized and better positioned to achieve our goals.”

Inmarsat transitioned its key voice and broadband data services for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region to Alphasat overnight Tuesday, said Inmarsat in a news release Wednesday. The transition includes four of Inmarsat’s mobile satellite communication services including BGAN, Classic Aero, FleetBroadband and SwiftBroadband. Alphasat and I-4 F2 will continue to jointly provide services over the EMEA region until the transition of the last two services -- L-TAC1 and IsatData Pro2 -- scheduled to be completed by the end of Q2, Inmarsat said. Then, I-4 F2 will be moved to a new orbital position to create a fourth L-band region, serving the Middle East and Asia. The new region is to begin commercial services by the end of the year and will support BGAN, FleetBroadband, SwiftBroadband and GSPS services, the company said.

EchoStar's legal and operating name for Solaris Mobile is now EchoStar Mobile, said the company in a news release Wednesday. It changed the name of that subsidiary to align the company with the entire group of EchoStar companies.

The FCC should file the results to proceedings on the terrestrial low-power service demonstrations held at the agency’s Technology Experience Center in March, said Gerst Capital in a letter posted Wednesday in docket 13-213. Those TLPS measurement results should include resolution bandwidth, video bandwidth, center frequency and frequency span, Gerst said. The measurements are required to “validate Globalstar’s claim that all devices will only require ‘firmware modifications’ to support TLPS,” the letter said. It said the measurements could impair channel 14/TLPS, which would bring the claim into question. If the problem does exist at the access point, it will exist for almost any LTE-enabled smartphone, too, Gerst said. Globalstar has said Gerst is a short-seller that profits from creating doubt, and defended its tests (see 1503230030).

Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) again said demonstrations show terrestrial low-power service (TLPS) interferes significantly with Bluetooth devices, in an FCC filing posted Monday in docket 13-213. Globalstar said broadband TLPS “is a good neighbor” to Wi-Fi opera­tions on IEEE 802.11 channel 11 and other channels (see 1503230030). Bluetooth SIG said it's suspicious of the conclusion from Globalstar's Bluetooth speaker test, which was reported to show clear audio quality, considering the SIG's finding in a Bluetooth speaker test without TLPS that the audio quality was poor, the filing said. Bluetooth SIG said it became clear during recent demos (see 1503190025) that all the access points had a very low level of traffic when compared with the maximum possible for those points. It said specific media files were used by those operating the TLPS setup for the Bluetooth demos, which may have produced a lower level of traffic. "These limited demonstrations prove that there should be significant concern about the interference caused by TLPS on Bluetooth communications," said a Bluetooth SIG spokeswoman. "There were other demonstrations that we had prepared but were unable to conduct due to the facilities provided and we believe that these other demonstrations would also have shown the effect of TLPS interference." Bluetooth had two days to set up and test its products before the demonstration and only decided to demo two devices, even though the company brought others, said Barbee Ponder, vice president-regulatory affairs for Globalstar. "Bluetooth's claim that they didn't have enough time or space is absurd," he said. "They could have returned Monday and Tuesday of the following week for the continuation of the demonstration but decided not to do so." Ponder said Globalstar demonstrated that four different mainstream BlueTooth-enabled devices worked flawlessly and simultaneously with all three public Wi-Fi channels and TLPS operating in the FCC's Technology Experience Center.

Intelsat's credit rating was cut to B from B+ by Standard & Poor's, which cited in a Monday announcement the fixed satellite service provider's "continued challenges in network services and government revenue." The company's Q4 revenue fell in those areas (see 1502180015).