Starting March 18, DirecTV wants to begin drifting its SkyB1 satellite from 33 degrees west to its permanent home at 43.15 degrees west. In a request for special temporary authority filed Thursday with the FCC International Bureau, DirecTV said the in-orbit testing of the satellite -- launched last month -- began Wednesday and is expected to run until March 18. It said the drift is expected to take about 10 days. DirecTV said it will begin in-orbit testing of Ka-band frequencies after the satellite relocates due to coordination challenges.

Hearst and Dish Network are blaming each other for suspended retransmission consent renewal talks that resulted in a blackout. In a news release Friday, Dan Joerres, president-general manager of Hearst's WBAL-TV Baltimore, said Dish "has continued to insist on including material terms that are less favorable than our current agreement [and] is seeking the right to carry our stations at below market rates, which is neither fair nor reasonable." Hearst said WBAL and 29 other stations are no longer being carried on Dish. Dish, in a news release, said Hearst "has used the move to gain deal leverage as it seeks above-market rate increases nearly double the current DISH rate, and other unreasonable demands. Hearst has also refused DISH’s offer to match the rates paid by other pay-TV providers." The American Television Alliance said Hearst is responsible for the majority of carriage disruptions this year, with it also part of a AT&T-owned DirecTV disruption on New Year's Day (see 1701030046). It said Hearst is proof "there’s nothing to stop broadcasters from hitting consumers on the nose with more blackouts and higher fees." The group's partners include AT&T and Dish.

SES wants to reorient Ka-band beams on its AMC-15 and AMC-16 satellites. In FCC International Bureau applications Wednesday (see here and here), SES said customer demand was driving the need for more coverage, and the reorientation of ARC-15 would cover the continental U.S., Gulf of Mexico, Mexico and parts of the Caribbean and Central America, and reorienting ARC-16 would cover the U.S., Canada and parts of the Caribbean. The company said no existing Ka-band customers would be affected and there would be no change in the satellites' Ku-band operations.

The Federal Aviation Administration is "ready today" to move from ground-based radar to the GPS-based automatic dependent surveillance -- broadcast network and the agency "look[s] forward" to the Jan. 1, 2020, deadline for automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast equipment being installed in aircraft, said FAA Administrator Michael Huerta Thursday at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Aviation Summit, according to posted remarks. Huerta said as aviation increasingly includes such participants as unmanned aerial vehicles and commercial rocket launchers, the agency "must find a way to balance these often-competing priorities." Huerta said that balancing act "has raised important questions about how our air traffic control system should be operated and who should pay for it" and called for collaboration on answers.

Dish Network completed its asset swap with EchoStar, it said in a news release Wednesday. Dish picked up EchoStar's 10 percent stake in Sling TV and wireless spectrum licenses covering four markets in the 28 GHz band, in exchange for Dish's 80 percent economic interest in Hughes Retail Group held in the form of a tracking stock (see 1701310064).

Satellite data capacity prices, declining in recent years, will continue to drop due to ultra-high-throughput satellites coming soon, opening the door to verticals like cellular backhaul and consumer broadband, leading to new industry growth, Northern Sky Research analyst Lluc Palerm-Serra said in an NSR blog post Tuesday. The price levels are making satellite a viable option for 3G and 4G backhaul, while consumer broadband "continues to present a massive opportunity if the right price points and business models are hit," NSR said. Industry needs to develop the ground system that can meet IP needs, service offerings tailored to mobile operators and a retail presence targeting consumers, the firm said.

Pricing will likely be the key factor determining whether flat panel antennas become widely adopted now that a products are to come to market in coming years, and if pricing isn't prioritized, it will be the main reason FPAs won't be successful, said Northern Sky Research analyst Dallas Kasaboski in an NSR blog post Monday. The big investment that has been made in FPA research and development means there's big pressure for commercialization, with performance being the big hurdle to deployment, as evidenced by the lengthy development times "and the current range of readiness of FPA technology," NSR said. It said those performance issues include low throughputs, noise, beam-steering requirements and side-lobe regulation.

After it extends the life of the Intelsat 901 satellite while in orbit, Orbital ATK's Space Logistics' mission extension vehicle MEV-1 will move on and provide similar such services to another geostationary orbit (GSO) satellite, the company said. Orbital ATK Friday filed an application with the FCC International Bureau for authority to launch and operate its MEV-1, which will have a 15-year lifespan, during which it will be able to service multiple GSO satellites with inclination reduction, station keeping and attitude control, orbit relocation and inspections. MEV-1 will have telemetry, tracking and command communications capabilities in the C-band or Ku-band. It will be deployed to Intelsat 901 and raise it to a graveyard orbit 300 km above the GSO arc, with the two satellites operating jointly for at least five years. Orbital ATK said last year it expected to put its first satellite life extension robot into service in late 2018 (see 1604120044).

Anticipating a new broadband mobility offering for some vehicular and maritime applications, Kymeta is asking the FCC International Bureau for a license allowing it to operate up to 5,000 Ku-band vehicle-mounted earth stations and 1,000 Ku-band earth stations on vessels. In a license application Thursday, Kymeta said its KyWay 1 terminal uses its flat panel antenna technology and would be mounted atop vehicles like trains or commercial trucks or on flat surfaces near the highest point of maritime vessels. It said the antennas would work in the 14-14.5 GHz transmit band and the 10.95-11.2 GHz, 11.45-12.2 GHz receive bands.

In a Facebook post Friday, Garmin said it's “devastated by ‘the senseless tragedy that took the life of one of our associates and friends, Srinivas Kuchibhotla, and injured another, Alok Madasani.’” The two Garmin engineers, both 32 and originally from India, were shot Wednesday in a bar near Garmin’s U.S. headquarters in Olathe, Kansas, in what authorities are calling a possible hate crime. Alleged gunman Adam Purinton reportedly told the Garmin engineers to “get out of my country” before shooting the men, along with Ian Grillot, who was injured when he intervened, reported The Kansas City Star. It said Purinton was charged with first-degree murder in the death of Kuchibhotla and with two counts of attempted first-degree murder in the shootings of Madasani and Grillot. Madasani was released from the hospital Thursday.