The FCC Media Bureau permanently invalidated a 2011 Philadelphia ordinance restricting placement of satellite dishes. A Wednesday declaratory ruling granted a 2012 petition by the Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association. Philadelphia made the law for aesthetics, property values and safety, but the FCC said it’s prohibited by its over-the-air reception devices rule, which protects the ability of antenna users to install and use such devices to give more video choice for consumers. SBCA is “pleased that the FCC found that Philadelphia’s dish-placement restrictions were unreasonable” and would have made TV service more expensive, said President Steve Hill. “We hope that other city governments considering similar restrictions will take heed of the FCC’s decision.” Philadelphia is reviewing its legal options, a spokeswoman said.

Despite what Dish Network says, there's no conflict between a 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision on insurability of punitive or Telephone Consumer Protection Act statutory damages and any other decision interpreting Colorado law on those issues, Ace American Insurance said Monday in a docket 17-1140 response (in Pacer). Dish is asking for rehearing en banc of the ruling that the insurer has no duty to defend or indemnify Dish in a TCPA telemarketing lawsuit (see 1804090003). The MVPD didn't comment Wednesday.

Fixed satellite service (FSS) operators are likely to face declines in contract durations, revenue and margins through at least 2020, until a revenue rebound occurs, blogged Northern Sky Research analyst Gagan Agrawal Sunday. He said the decline in video and non-video FSS contract duration over the past three years mirrors price declines over the same span, with the increase in capacity ensuring those shorter contracts aren't leading to higher pricing. He said the FSS company market cap and share prices "are precariously placed" for the next one to two years and it's unclear whether next-generation high throughput and non-geostationary satellites will boost revenue, but "certainly it is a tough road ahead for the FSS segment."

Iridium on one side and Inmarsat, SES and ViaSat on the other are making their cases against or for earth stations in motion operations (ESIM) in the 29.25-29.3 GHz band with Chairman Ajit Pai's office. Excluding ESIMs from the band won't hurt ESIM services, but allowing it in the band used for non-geostationary orbit uplinks would interfere with those uplinks, Iridium officials told a Pai staffer, according to a docket 17-95 ex parte filing posted Friday. Iridium said there isn't a satisfactory way to manage or mitigate that interference. In a separate ex parte filing in the docket also posted Friday, Inmarsat and the others repeated their assertions that the docket includes ample evidence ESIM operations won't interfere with Iridium's feeder link operations in the band (see 1804040060). The companies also pushed for allowing ESIM operations in the 28.35-28.6 GHz band, telling Pai's office they won't cause unacceptable interference to upper microwave flexible use systems (UMFUS) in the 27.5-28.35 GHz band. They said ESIM operations would be kept in check by the FCC's out-of-band emissions limits under Section 25.202, and a ViaSat analysis showed fears of ESIM interference to UMFUS operations "are unfounded." The Global Mobile Suppliers Association raised concerns about ESIM interference with UMFUS operations in the band (see 1708310004); it didn't comment Monday.

An FCC enforcement advisory on satellite licensing requirements issued Thursday comes as smallsat operators are getting well into preparation for a launch before seeking authorizations necessary, an FCC staffer told us. The advisory from the International Enforcement and Wireless Bureaus and Office of Engineering and Technology said its intent is to remind operators of regulatory requirements and warn them about doing otherwise. The agency said operators denied a license or with an application pending shouldn't give the satellite to a launcher if that commits them to launching. It also said the operator could face not getting authorizations for earth stations outside the U.S. until a U.S. satellite authorization is issued. It said launching without authorization with onboard radio transmitters disabled isn't an option since that could create a hazard to other satellites due to the inability to monitor or control the satellite. The FCC is dealing with an unauthorized constellation launched by satellite IoT connectivity startup Swarm (see 1803200003), but the advisory wasn't in response only to Swarm, the agency staffer said.

The National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) Systems Engineering Forum testing of the effects on GPS receivers of adjacent band operations ignores Ligado's agreement with major GPS manufacturers and improperly disregards cutting-edge government testing over "outdated tests with erroneous criteria and other problems," Ligado said in docket 11-109 filing Friday. It said the PNT Forum's report runs contrary to what major GPS manufacturers believe, and said the Forum report insistence on using 1 dB change in noise floor as an interference protection criteria is fatally flawed. Ligado said the 1 dB metric isn't applicable to adjacent band emissions since it's been applied only to emissions in the same band, and that it's not accurate or reliable since testing has shown a 1 dB change doesn't correlate to actual degraded performance of a GPS device. Using the 1 dB metric shows "basic misunderstanding of spectrum policy and well-established law" by the Forum, Ligado said, saying the Forum is "effectively grant[ing] a form of 'adverse possession' to all GPS devices ... over nearby bands." Ligado said the Forum has no spectrum management expertise or authority. The filing included a letter sent to the National Executive Committee for Space-Based PNT also criticizing the Forum report. The PNT National Coordination Office didn't comment. The Forum report, issued in March, said National Advanced Spectrum and Communications Test Network (see 1702160056) and others did significant testing of Ligado's proposed LTE network and compatibility with Global Navigation Satellite System spectrum, but its own analysis found that testing scope and framework insufficient. It said other test data from such sources as the FCC, Transportation Department and the Forum are sufficient for determining the maximum aggregate power level of transmissions in GPS adjacent bands.

Intelsat wants to add some Ku- and Ka-band frequencies and remove some Ka-band frequencies from its pending application for its Galaxy 14R satellite (see 1705250004), which it renamed Galaxy 30. In an FCC International Bureau filing Tuesday, the company said it wants to add the 10700-10950 MHz, 11200-11450 MHz,12750-13250 MHz, 19300-19400 MHz and 19600-19700 MHz bands while removing 18800-19200 MHz and 28600-29000 MHz from its application. It also asked for authority to provide radio navigation satellite service using 1165.45-1187.45 MHz, 1564.42-1586.42 MHz, 6597.58-6619.58 MHz, and 6648.73-6670.73 MHz bands.

Commercial space companies saw 20 deals totaling $975.8 million in nongovernment equity investment in Q1, Space Angels said Tuesday in its quarterly space investment report. The commercial launch industry got 72 percent of such investment in 2017 and that's likely to continue this year, with a particular emphasis on small satellite launch services, it said. The U.S. had 60 percent of the investing activity, it said. Most of the investment came from venture capital and angel sources, it said.

Arguments that SOM1101 owner Greg Wyler has a controlling interest in OneWeb under the FCC's Section 25.159(b) rules (see 1802130019 and 1803230004) "are strained and unsupported," SOM1101 representatives told International Bureau officials in a meeting recapped in an ex parte filing posted Monday. SOM1101 said no one involved with it has de jure or de facto control of another applicant in a fixed satellite service processing round before the agency. They said substituting SOM1101 for Boeing in some of Boeing's non-geostationary orbit applications wouldn't constitute a major or substantial amendment under the FCC's Section 25.116 rules, but even if it did the public interest benefits of that substitution justify a waiver of either rule.

Despite Inmarsat/SES/ViaSat assertions earlier this month about earth stations in motion operations' ability to operate in spectrum currently used by Iridium (see 1804040060), the record shows the opposite -- that ESIMs shouldn't be allowed in non-geostationary orbit uplink bands at all, "let alone -- as these three companies now suggest -- without any obligation to comply with existing coordination rules," Iridium emailed us.