Ligado, pushing use of a cloud-based content delivery network as a way to distribute National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite data (see 1607280022), plans to test a beta version of such a CDN in conjunction with George Mason University. In a news release Thursday, it said they plan to jointly evaluate weather data delivery using the CDN, including speed and reliability. It also said the CDN potentially could expand to provide free NOAA data access to schools, libraries and the public. Some in the weather data community have been skeptical of use of a CDN to address Ligado terrestrial low-power service interference with NOAA satellite downlinks (see 1611250033).

Saying the Fox and CBS TV contracts that the NFL produced on discovery were redacted to the point of being meaningless, plaintiffs against the NFL and DirecTV over NFL Sunday Ticket antitrust concerns (see 1512300027) want the court to order it to provide unredacted copies, they said. In a position statement (in Pacer) filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, the plaintiffs of 27 consolidated class-action complaints said the league cited portions of the contracts in a motion to dismiss and they in turn agreed to limit discovery during the pendency of the motion to dismiss as long as the NFL agreed to produce those contracts. What the league provided was nearly fully redacted copies to the point where one network even redacted portions of its NFL contract that already had been filed, the plaintiffs said. The NFL didn't comment Thursday.

Globalstar needs to clarify the protocol and operating parameters of its revised terrestrial low power service broadband proposal to make more clear what kind of interference problems it poses for unlicensed users of the 2.4 GHz band, said Hearing Industries Association (HIA) in a filing Wednesday in docket 13-213. Globalstar's original proposal involved IEEE 802.11 protocol technology, but its revision (see 1611100031) isn't clear on what technology would be employed, so it's impossible to say whether the out-of-band emission limits would be effective, HIA said. The group said it would back symmetrical OOBE limits that protect adjacent band operations on either side of Globalstar's spectrum. It said that of the company's OOBE proposals, its 43 dB OOBE requirement could be a problem for hearing aid receivers operating near the edge of Globalstar's range but is still the preferred route. HIA said if the satellite firm uses LTE technology with control signals, that could help assuage interference concerns since the control signals could be moved from adjacent band edges easily. Globalstar didn't comment Thursday.

Due to potential problems stemming from a Sirius XM Telephone Consumer Protection Act settlement website, the deadline for cash TCPA claims was extended from Nov. 26 to Dec. 12 and a fourth round of 5 million email notices to class members was sent out about that extension, counsel for the satellite radio company and for the class-action suit plaintiffs said in a joint memorandum (in Pacer) Tuesday. In the joint filing in U.S. District Court in Newport News, Virginia, the lawyers said the problems revolved around an incorrect filing deadline date on a settlement claims sites that, for the five-plus days it was wrong, could have dissuaded class members from filing a cash claim for part of the $35 million SiriusXM settlement regarding the company's alleged TCPA violations (see 1606080019). The company laid out its corrective steps, saying it's visited conductor sites with an expert to confirm the changes made by those vendors to separate autodialed systems from the manual dialing systems used for dialing mobile phones. A fairness hearing on the settlement is scheduled for Tuesday.

Assurances that Ligado is providing the FCC about being open to tighter out-of-band emission limits (see 1611030049) don't change that the company's proposed terrestrial operations would generate excessive out of band emissions that would interfere with Indium's operations in adjacent spectrum, Iridium said in a filing Wednesday in docket 12-340. It said Ligado's technical response to Iridium cherry-picks issues from non-similar FCC proceedings and it said its own assumptions line up with the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee final report issued in 2013, in which Ligado was a major participant. Iridium also said Ligado's legal arguments fall short and that the company is ignoring Section 25.255 of rules, which puts on Ligado an obligation to prevent harmful interference. Ligado didn't comment.

Dish Network will likely keep violating the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR), requiring injunctive relief, DOJ and the FTC said in a proposed conclusions of law filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Springfield, Illinois, in advance of the second phase of the lawsuit alleging robocall violations by the company (see 0903260144). The agencies said in the filing (in Pacer) that the likelihood of future Dish violations is proven by 165 million violations it committed between 2003 and 2011, its failure to show that during that time it identified or tried to correct the underlying TSR problems and its ability to use such marketing tactics to continue selling its offerings. They said the company hasn't provided any evidence that would let them and the court evaluate current practices. "Fencing-in relief is appropriate against Dish's internal telemarketing operation because it admitted ... that 'mistakes' were made but never offered a competent explanation for how it came to commit so many violations of the TSR and what it did to ensure additional violations did not occur," DOJ/FTC said, adding that their proposed five-year telemarketing ban on the company would give it "time to rebuild its systems so it can comply with the law." They said the ban on Dish's accepting new orders from past or current Order Entry retailers until it ensures those retailers aren't violating telemarketing laws is justifiable given that OE retailer system "has been rife with shady, illegal practices" since it signed up its first OE retailer in 2003. The satellite-TV provider didn't comment Wednesday.

The U.S. hopes to incorporate more commercial satellite capabilities into its national defense architecture, but changes first need to made in federal procurement rules to allow longer-term contracts, said Robert Tarleton, director-Military Satellite Communications Systems Directorate, Air Force Space Command, at a satellite industry panel Tuesday. Tarleton said the Air Force is looking at issuing a Pathfinder that would let it buy transponder space on commercial satellites before launch, letting the agency be part of the design of the satellite architecture. Pathfinder is a DOD business model that lets the agency commit to using commercial satellite transponders for multiple years instead of shorter-term operations and maintenance leases. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is considering experimenting with an acquisition model where it would put out unclassified orders for imagery of specific areas or incidents -- such as troop placements in foreign countries -- and earth imaging companies could compete to provide the pixels, data and/or analysis, rather than its traditional approach of long-term acquisition contracts, said NGA Director-Source Strategies Chirag Parikh. He also said with capabilities from earth imaging satellite operators like DigitalGlobe and Planet Labs, imagery acquisition is no longer a challenge but data processing and analysis are, with the U.S. considering outsourcing more routine analysis work to commercial operators.

Telemarketer Infinity Sales Group and DOJ and FTC are at odds over whether an Infinity executive's declaration can be part of the record in a Telephone Consumer Protection Act lawsuit against Dish Network. In an opposition (in Pacer) filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Springfield, Illinois, the government said Infinity can't and shouldn't be allowed to file documents in a case in which it's not a party. The agencies said Infinity Senior Vice President-Sales Josh Slater was subpoenaed by Dish in October and an Infinity attorney on Thursday filed a notice of appearance that included a Slater declaration in which he gave information he didn't offer during trial testimony. Since Infinity isn't a party and hasn't intervened, its lawyers "cannot simply appear in the case and start making filings," DOJ and FTC said. Even if Infinity had moved to intervene, the agencies said, that would have been untimely because it knew for years that its conduct as a sales agent could be at issue during the Dish trial, but "did nothing about it until more than a month after the actual parties to the case rested after a five-week trial." In its motion (in Pacer), Infinity said that during Slater's cross-examination, the government ignored his testimony that the government-sought injunction would put Infinity out of business and focused on "a surprise smear campaign against Infinity's reputation" about the company's prior relationship with a person who was subject of unrelated, non-TCPA criminal actions. The government used documents never produced to Infinity or Dish, leaving Infinity unable to respond, it said, seeking leave to file Slater's declaration.

Globalstar continues to pitch suggested rules that would govern its revised broadband terrestrial low-power service plans. In an ex parte filing Monday in FCC docket 13-213, the company recapped a phone call between General Counsel Barbee Ponder and International Bureau Satellite Division Chief Jose Albuquerque in which Ponder talked about the revised proposal rules and its changes to provisions in the NPRM. The company also urged the agency to adopt the revised rules, which it submitted earlier this month (see 1612080025).

The FCC International Bureau signed off on SES' launch of its SES-11 satellite and subsequent operations in the Ku-band. In an approval Wednesday, the bureau said the company sought rule waivers for the satellite -- which will operate at 104.95 degrees west -- to operate in the Ka-band in 18.3-19.3 GHz and 19.7-20.2 GHz for downlinks and 28.35-29.1 GHz and 29.25-30 GHz for uplinks, but it would address those waivers in connection with any future request for operating authority in the Ka-band frequencies, which can be used for broadband. The bureau in a letter to U.K. telecom regulator Ofcom said the satellite is expected to launch this year.