The first satellites in Iridium's Next constellation are now scheduled for launch Monday, the company said in a tweet Friday. That launch by SpaceX was initially scheduled for September and postponed by an explosion during a SpaceX preflight ignition test and subsequent investigation (see 1610270015).

SiriusXM added more than 1.7 million net subscribers in 2016, ending the year with more than 31.3 million subscribers and exceeding its 2016 guidance, the company said in a news release Thursday. It said it ended the year with close to 26 million self-pay subscriptions, netting 1.66 million self-pay subscriber additions. It said for 2017 it expects self-pay net subscriber additions of 1.3 million.

The traditional equitability test for issuing a statutory injunction doesn't apply in the issue of whether there should be a telemarketing sales rule (TSR) injunction against Dish Network, said the DOJ and FTC in a proposed responsive conclusions of law (in Pacer) for the second phase of the robocall violations trial, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Springfield, Illinois. DOJ/FTC said given the evidence Dish and its retailers repeatedly violated TSR for years, "future violations are not just likely; they are all but assured." The government said Dish claimed catastrophic private effects on its business from such an injunction (see 1604190004), but precedent indicates public equities -- which "favor a broad, strong injunction in this case" -- must receive more weight. DOJ/FTC said even if Dish were right in its assertions that civil penalties could take the place of injunctive relief, that also runs contrary to arguments the company has made against any civil penalties or injunctive relief. The mandatory injunction issue was bifurcated from the rest of the trial that ended Feb. 24 on robocall allegations brought by the federal government and California, Illinois, North Carolina and Ohio (see 0903260144).

This "is the year of spectrum monetization," which should be good news for Dish Network, Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker wrote investors Monday. That monetization movement likely will start with Dish selling a wireless network, building one or partnering on one, or perhaps all three, Ryvicker said, saying the big four wireless companies likely won't combine. The spectrum-related big events for Dish this year include the end of the broadcast incentive auction, which also will end the quiet period and solidify wireless operators' spectrum portfolios, Ryvicker said. She said the AWS-3 designated entity issue should be resolved this year, and if Dish loses, as is generally expected, a re-auction should happen quickly. The 3rd Generation Partnership Project band plan "appears to be as favorable as we could have hoped," with Dish's AWS-4 spectrum in handsets, she said, saying Dish CEO Charlie Ergen "doesn't seem to be waiting for any other 'must-have' assets -- meaning his war chest is finally complete." In a separate note Monday, Ryvicker said this year likely will bring increased activity with streaming bundles, and the first provider to get stations nationwide will become the market leader. She said once the FCC incentive auction wraps up, 2017 "could be the Year of M&A," with broadcast and publishing being particularly likely focuses and with Dish and perhaps Disney also being involved. A cable/wireless merger acquisition is unlikely as cable companies focus their wireless plans on the Verizon mobile virtual network operator agreements. Dish didn't comment Tuesday.

Dish bowed its long-promised Dish Music service Tuesday, bringing Play-Fi multiroom audio capability to consumers with Hopper 2 and 3 DVRs and Joey clients, it announced. Play-Fi adds whole-home streaming of services including iHeartRadio, Pandora, Deezer, Napster, Tidal and Amazon Music, turning the Hopper into a household’s entertainment hub for music and video, said Dish. Hopper and Joey boxes deliver music to zones controllable by Android and iOS smartphones and tablets, plus apps on set-top boxes. Music can stream through TVs and can pair to speakers and components in the Play-Fi ecosystem from Aerix, Anthem, Arcam, Definitive Technology, Klipsch, MartinLogan, McIntosh, Paradigm, Phorus, Polk Audio, Rotel, Sonus Faber and Wren. Play-Fi products from Elite, Integra, Pioneer, Onkyo, SVS and Thiel are on the road map. DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance)-compatible, Dish Music will play music files from media servers and personal libraries on mobile devices. Dish Music is rolling out to customers, and the app will be available on all Hopper 2 and Hopper 3 DVRs next month, Dish said.

Fifteen years after the FCC said there's no public policy reason for it to remain the accounting authority settling up accounts between earth or coast stations and ships engaged in international maritime mobile communications, the agency is proposing to stop. In a second further NPRM issued Friday, the International Bureau said the FCC has acted as accounting authority since 1934, setting up accounts for maritime, aviation and hand-held terminal radio services for private and federal government users, but it cut back on that function for maritime mobile radio service and satellite-based services. The bureau said the reduction has come as private accounting authorities have done similar work and pointed to its 1999 NPRM and Further NPRM that included its decision to withdraw as an accounting authority in those maritime markets. The FCC said it tentatively concluded there should be a three-year transition period, but completion of that plan never happened. The Second Further NPRM sought comment on such approaches as requiring all customers to subscribe to an accounting authority or designating an accounting authority on every message, developing a formula to divvy up investigated messages among a number of private accounting authorities or appointing one private accounting authority as the new authority of last resort. It sought comment on enforcement or authority issues for each of the options and whether the FCC should designate an accounting authority of last resort specially for global maritime distress and safety system mobile satellite communications. The comment date will be 60 days after publication in the Federal Register, with reply comments due 30 days after that.

Former DirecTV workers at five call centers voted to ratify three existing labor agreements between Communication Workers of America and DirecTV's owner, AT&T, the company said in a news release Thursday. The call centers are in Alabama, Colorado, Minnesota, Oklahoma and West Virginia, and the agreements cover about 2,000 employees, the company said. AT&T said unionized former DirecTV workers now have ratified nine labor agreements this year.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a U.S. District Court ruling that overturned a jury verdict in favor of direct broadcast satellite marketing firm Exclaim Marketing and granted a DirecTV counterclaim for trademark infringement. In an unpublished per curiam opinion (in Pacer) Thursday, Judges Dennis Shedd, Steven Agee and James Wynn said they agreed with the lower court's ruling that, contrary to the jury's finding, DirecTV hadn't violated the North Carolina Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act (UDTPA), and that DirecTV was due more on its counterclaim than the jury awarded. The judges also upheld the District Court's decision denying DirecTV's motion seeking statutory attorney's fees. The Circuit Court said DirecTV's actions -- calling Exclaim call centers on average two to three times a month over the course of six years -- don't rise to the level of egregiously or aggravatingly unfair, as would be the standard under UDTPA. The 4th Circuit also said the lower court didn't abuse its discretion granting DirecTV's counterclaim motion since many of Exclaim's arguments ignore the rationale for prohibiting trademark infringement and Lanham Act language letting plaintiffs recover both actual damages and a share of defendants' profits from infringement. The panel, in affirming the lower court's ruling denying statutory attorney's fees, noted DirecTV doesn't take issue with the court's findings or otherwise engage with its analysis but instead argues it should have used a different analysis. Exclaim didn't comment. The 4th Circuit earlier this year denied a push by Exclaim for a stay of enforcement on the damages owed DirecTV while it appealed the lower court's ruling (see 1606060011). Exclaim sued DirecTV in 2015 alleging multiple UDTPA violations in connection with the DBS company allegedly telling its third-party retailers not to work with Exclaim, and DirecTV countersued for use of the DirecTV name with some of the inbound call center services Exclaim provides.

To bolster its case that its proposed non-geostationary orbit constellation won't exceed equivalent power flux density (EPFD) limits laid out in ITU regulations, Karousel filed a series of technical analyses Tuesday with the FCC International Bureau detailing the EPFD modeling it used to demonstrate compliance in the Ka- and Ku-bands. Karousel is one of several satellite operators that submitted plans in October in a processing round triggered by OneWeb's plans for its own 720-satellite Ka- and Ku-band constellation (see 1611160010).

"Additional briefs will change nothing," the DOJ and FTC said in a response (in Pacer) filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Springfield, Illinois, to Dish Network's motion for leave to file and its motion to strike. The government plaintiffs in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act suit against Dish said in Dish's motion to strike filed last week (see 1612220007) that the company gave no procedural or legal support for why the court should strike proposed findings of fact that the government is suggesting the court consider when rendering a decision. DOJ/FTC also said Dish's response to their offer of proof on consumer testimony "function[s] as admissions" the company has substantial undisclosed, relevant evidence it has kept from the court and plaintiffs. If the court opts to consider additional Dish filings, DOJ/FTC said, "the Court will discover that, like the rest of Dish's case, these filings do not stand up to any reasonable scrutiny nor do they provide any defense to Dish's liability." Dish, meanwhile, in its replies (in Pacer) filed Friday to the DOJ/FTC proposed conclusions of law and state plaintiffs' closing statement for the second phase of trial (see 1612140021), said it isn't trying to offer direct evidence of monetary damages and specifically quantifying a future harm but is trying to describe the general impact a telemarketing ban would have. That type of testimony "isn't reserved for experts," Dish said. It also argued the court should disregard state plaintiff arguments lacking any evidentiary support in the trial record and in separate filing (in Pacer) responding to the plaintiffs' offer of proof, Dish synopsized what its witnesses would have said in response to eight excluded consumer witnesses. Infinity Sales Group said in its reply (in Pacer) Friday supporting its opposition to the government's cross-motion to strike (see 1612120033) government arguments ignore Infinity's showing a court can't enter an injunction that destroys a nonparty's business in violation of its due process rights.