Matt Daneman

Now needing additional downlink spectrum for its terrestrial broadband network, LightSquared is asking the FCC for reallocation and auction of a slice of spectrum used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and for conditions on its spectrum license that would let LightSquared share it. By giving up 10 MHz of spectrum as part of an agreement with GPS companies, the LightSquared LTE network "cannot be deployed without access to alternative downlink spectrum" compatible with the company's L-band uplink bands, meaning the FCC needs to reallocate the 1675-1680 MHz band for commercial sharing, it said in a filing to be posted Thursday in docket 12-340.

The growing number of suits against DirecTV and the NFL over supposed antitrust violations springing from the NFL Sunday Ticket subscription package could take years to resolve, Caleb Marker, of law firm Zimmerman Reed, tells us. Various sports bars across the country brought the litigation in recent months after Comcast, DirecTV and the NHL in September settled a 2012 federal class-action suit alleging similar activities by the NHL in how it made hockey game video content available via the Internet and TV. That NHL litigation helped spur the numerous state and federal suits against the NFL, said Marker, counsel in a number of the suits against the NFL and DirecTV.

Citing concerns about being elbowed out of the Connect America Fund Phase II competitive bidding process, the satellite industry is pushing the FCC to ensure that satellite is evaluated on equal footing with fiber-to-the-home (FTTH). "The FCC has a longstanding policy favoring technology neutrality for CAF that has served the public interest resulting in increased innovation, service quality and reduced costs to consumers," the Satellite Industry Association said in a filing Tuesday in docket 10-90. Due to such satellite innovations as high-throughput space stations and broadband via nongeostationary constellations, SIA said, "It would be a mistake for the FCC to abandon such a policy now."

While Charter Communications plans to roll out a low-cost home broadband plan if its buys of Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable get FCC approval, it's unclear whether that offering moves the needle noticeably toward regulatory OK, cable merger experts tell us. The broadband offering seems to indicate the FCC might be starting to ask questions about the actual public benefits of the $89.1 billion pair of deals, with Charter maybe feeling the need to sweeten the pot, one cable attorney with no clients involved in the transaction told us. The low-cost plan appears to be a supplement to the work Charter has done upfront to mute opposition in a regulatory environment that's skeptical of major deals, another cable attorney with no clients in the proposed acquisition told us.

Altice's proposed takeover of Cablevision might not face much more difficulties before the FCC than its recently approved purchase of Suddenlink, merger experts told us. FCC approval "is never a sure thing," but the Cablevision acquisition is less problematic for the commissioners than a number of other mergers have been, Andrew Schwartzman, who's representing Zoom Telephonics, an interested party in the proceedings, told us.

FCC approval of Altice buying a majority of Suddenlink in a deal worth about $9 billion without any major conditions was expected, since there were no competitive worries or potential consumer downsides associated with the deal, one communications industry lawyer familiar with the deal told us, saying it would have been surprising if the agency had imposed any conditions. But how the approval granted Friday affects Altice's planned buy of Cablevision remains to be seen, the lawyer said. Altice and Suddenlink filed a joint application seeking regulatory approval in June (see 1506040047) and Altice said it hoped to close on the deal by year's end.

LightSquared's settlements with three GPS companies could carry considerable weight with the FCC as LightSquared seeks modification of its Ancillary Terrestrial Components (ATC) license to allow its proposed L-band terrestrial broadband service, people familiar with the company tell us. "Typically, when industry can work these kinds of issues out, that's well received" by the agency, company President Doug Smith said Friday.

The FCC's new two-degree spacing rules for satellites are "a middle ground" between extremes that had been staked out by different parties in the satellite industry, said Jose Albuquerque, chief of the International Bureau's satellite division, Thursday. The Part 25 Report and Order passed 5-0 Thursday follows a similar set of Part 25 rules changes approved in 2013 and was aimed at relieving regulatory burdens on applicants and deterring spectrum warehousing, IB Chief Mindel De La Torre said. The FCC will undertake a rulemaking in the future specifically on the two-degree spacing changes to assess their impact, Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said.

Despite reluctance in much of the rest of the world, the U.S. plans to plow ahead on making spectrum available for 5G "in a timely manner," FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said Thursday. That the World Radiocommunication Conference-15 said it would look at bands above 6 GHz for 5G but not the 28 GHz band (see 1510230050) -- which had been an FCC priority -- "will not slow the activity in this country," Wheeler said as the commissioners heard a report on WRC-15, which wrapped up last month. Minus 28 GHz, the bands identified by WRC-19 and the bands part of the FCC spectrum frontiers NPRM have significant overlap, said International Bureau Chief Mindel De La Torre. Spectrum frontiers likely will be complete by WRC-19, she said. Identifying global allocations of spectrum is increasingly difficult, De La Torre said. Regional allocations "might be more realistic," she said: WRC footnotes denoting the policy of one or a small collection of nations are increasingly common.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and the two Republican commissioners are at odds over letters the agency sent Wednesday to AT&T, Comcast and T-Mobile, seeking input on zero-rating product offerings that could have net neutrality implications. "This is not an investigation," Wheeler said Thursday during the commission's meeting. "These were 'let's get informed.' This is to help us stay informed as to what the practices are." On the contrary, Commissioner Ajit Pai said later as he and Commissioner Michael O'Rielly criticized the letters and the way they were issued: "This is an investigation. This is not simply benign."