AT&T buying Time Warner is likely the first in a series of transactions that combine spectrum, networks and scale in video, Dish Network CEO Charlie Ergen said Wednesday during the company's Q3 earnings call. "You can imagine all the interesting things that might take place once this current auction is over," Ergen said. "If someone puts all the pieces together, and AT&T is on the path to do that, people on the sidelines have to do something different," he said, adding that Dish lacks the network leg of the stool. Ergen also said that while over-the-top services have huge growth potential, they also carry some business challenges. "OTT in general has the potential to be as big or bigger" than direct broadcast satellite, he said. "It's the next way to watch TV." But the ease of switching providers could create challenges for content providers, he said. A ruling from U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit regarding the designated entity appeal of the FCC decision on AWS-3 bidding credits (see 1601130062) should come sometime in the first half of 2017, Ergen said. There likely will be handsets that use Band 66 -- which includes AWS-3 spectrum -- before there's a network using the spectrum, Dish executives said. They said Qualcomm is shipping Band 66 chipsets, and Intel is likely to follow, while LG's V20 phone also supports the Band 66 configuration. Dish said the expectation is more Android devices will adopt it in 2017, though timing is murkier for iOS. In a note to investors, Citigroup analyst Jason Bazinet said the company's cash flow statement suggests a broadcast spectrum auction deposit of about $1.5 billion, meaning Dish could end up buying up to 100 MHz of nationwide spectrum. He also said that incumbent telcos have stretched balanced sheets, leaving Dish "as the only way [to] buy significant spectrum for equity."

Univision programming will be included on new AT&T streaming service, DirecTV Now, as part of a “multiplatform distribution agreement,” the broadcaster said in a news release Tuesday. DirecTV Now will offer Univision stations, Univision Network, UniMás, Galavisión, UDN (Univision Deportes Network) and the Fusion network, it said. The agreement includes TV Everywhere provisions and will allow U-Verse and DirecTV customers to stream Univision's live and VOD content, that company said. DirecTV Now will launch in Q4, with 100-plus channels, Univision noted.

Among potential EchoStar concerns as the company reported quarterly results Tuesday are some FCC and other regulatory proceedings, along with business issues relating to its devices. "Our customers face emerging competition from other providers of digital media and potential government action preventing them from using security systems in connection with set-top boxes," the company said in an SEC filing, which noted that Dish Network is a top customer; both companies are controlled by their Chairman Charlie Ergen. "The FCC is considering adopting regulations enabling consumer electronics manufacturers, innovators and other developers to build devices or software solutions that may provide access to multichannel video programming with the use of user interfaces and without the use of any set-top box." That unlock-the-box proceeding has encountered slow going, with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler just before commissioners' Sept. 29 monthly meeting putting off a vote on a draft order. Discussions have been continuing (see 1610180052). Demand for EchoStar's satellite TV digital set-tops from Dish and other customers "will likely continue to decline and we may not be able to sustain our current revenue levels," it said. In July, the company wrote, it decided to end offering consumer security and home automation products and services that were introduced this year. In a section of its filing on risks, the FCC set-top proceeding and spectrum frontiers order were cited, as some of the Ka-band spectrum where EchoStar operates broadband gateway earth stations has been enabled for 5G. Other countries "are also considering regulations that could limit access to the Ka band," EchoStar noted. Carriers and satellite interests aren't in full agreement on technical rules related to an ongoing spectrum frontiers proceeding (see 1611010044). The company didn't immediately comment further to us Tuesday. For Q3, the set-top maker reported that sales fell 2.4 percent to $742.3 million from the year-ago quarter as profit rose 32 percent to $37.4 million. In a quarter that was largely as expected, Hughes broadband subscribership declined by about 12,000 to 1.02 million "as the firm’s satellites have reached capacity in certain areas," Citigroup analysts wrote investors. "Citi forecasts flat subscriber growth for the year."

EchoStar's Jupiter 2 multi-spot beam Ka-band satellite arrived at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for launch, Space Systems Loral said in a news release Monday. SSL said it designed and built the satellite for EchoStar and it will increase capacity for the company's HughesNet high-speed satellite broadband service in North America.

Globalstar executives have talked repeatedly with FCC Office of Engineering and Technology Chief Julius Knapp and Chairman Tom Wheeler aide Edward Smith about "ways to reach an expeditious outcome" for the satellite company's proposed broadband terrestrial low-power service network plans, according to an ex parte filing Monday in docket 13-213. The filing recapped three separate meetings or phone calls between Globalstar -- including General Counsel Barbee Ponder and Vice President-Finance, Business Operations and Strategy Tim Taylor -- and the FCC staffers.

Dish Network and plaintiffs in a Telephone Consumer Protection Act class-action complaint have come to an agreement on carving out some phone numbers and calls to those numbers from the class certification in the case. In a stipulation (in Pacer) filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Greensboro, North Carolina, the company and plaintiffs Thomas Krakauer and the others said the carve-outs are being done "to narrow issues for trial and facilitate the effective presentation of classwide proof." A total of 1,494 phone numbers, accounting for 4,231 calls, should be removed, Dish and the plaintiffs said as they asked the court for an order modifying the class definition. The categories of numbers to be removed include listing names that appear to be businesses, different listing names associated with the same number and numbers in which call records indicate the first call to the number contains comments suggesting the recipient requested a callback or agreed to be called back.

Globalstar still hopes to reach a compromise that will bring FCC approval for its proposed terrestrial low-power service, CEO James Monroe said during the company's Q3 earnings call Thursday. The company didn't take questions on TLPS. In an ex parte filing posted Friday in docket 13-213, Globalstar also recapped a meeting involving Vice President-Finance, Business Operations and Strategy Tim Taylor, consultant and ex-Commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth, and an aide to Commissioner Mike O'Rielly. At that meeting, Globalstar said it talked about allowing opportunistic access to Wi-Fi channel 14, where Globalstar hasn't deployed TLPS.

The federal government has used V-band satellite systems for decades, and Boeing has spent years readying its commercial V-band satellite system plans, and the FCC's spectrum frontiers proceeding is about allocating spectrum for more down-the-road potential future 5G development, Boeing said in a response posted Wednesday in RM-11773. The company defended its ask for the FCC to specify the 50.4-51.4 GHz band as usable for fixed satellite service uplinks and make an FSS allocation in the 51.4-52.4 GHz band. V-band is ready for commercial use but needs 5 GHz of paired spectrum, and the 50 GHz band spectrum would complement downlink operations in the 37.5-40 GHz bands, the company said; by putting individually licensed earth stations only in rural areas, its FSS operations won't have significant effects on upper microwave flexible use services, demonstrating FSS and UMFUS sharing is workable in the 50 GHz band. Boeing said its request is complementary to spectrum frontiers, since it identifies spectrum that would be shared between terrestrial and satellite services. Some have speculated the FCC will fold the satellite manufacturer's petition into the spectrum frontiers Further NPRM (see 1610180046). The International Bureau delayed consideration for the company's request to also operate in the 42-42.5 GHz and 51.4-52.4 GHz frequency bands (see 1611010060).

Fixed satellite service (FSS) operations need to retain primary status in the 40 GHz band, and sharing with upper microwave flexible use service (UMFUS) in other spectrum frontiers bands requires some conditions, EchoStar said in an FCC ex parte filing Thursday in docket 14-177. UMFUS access to the 47.2-50.2 GHz band should include rules that prioritize those services in urban care areas and require co-primary sharing for FSS earth stations and UMFUS base stations elsewhere, the company said. It said the 50.4-51.4 GHz band, where FSS is co-primary, should follow the same sharing regime but with a higher power flux density (PFD) limit because of the propagation characteristics of the band. The satellite maker urged the FCC to implement rules it adopted in 2003 allowing satellites to operate in the 39 GHz band at higher PFD levels when having to overcome atmospheric conditions like rain fade; those rules have been in limbo pending technical studies, the company said. EchoStar said letting UMFUS use the 24.75-25.25 GHz band should come with rules protecting broadcasting satellite service feeder links and gateway earth stations. The filing recapped a meeting between executives including Senior Vice President-Regulatory Affairs Jennifer Manner and International Bureau staffers including Satellite Division Chief Jose Albuquerque.

Arguing Iridium's claims of unacceptable out-of-band-emission (OOBE) levels from its planned LTE deployment (see 1609020029) overstate the dangers to that company's terminals, Ligado said it is open to tighter OOBE restrictions if it means speedy granting of its license modification applications. An ex parte filing posted Thursday in docket 11-109 recapped a meeting between company representatives and FCC Office of Engineering and Technology and Wireless and International bureau staffers. Ligado said it argued real-world effects of its ancillary terrestrial component plans "would be comfortably in line with the existing spectrum environment." Since Iridium's licensed downlink spectrum is allocated on a secondary, non-interference basis, those downlinks aren't entitled to interference protection from adjacent spectrum users operating under primary allocations, like Ligado, the company said. Ligado said its LTE operating parameters, including an OOBE mask, "have been fixed for years," and its pending license modification applications would actually reduce the level of its user terminal emissions below those parameters. Ligado said its proposed operating parameters fall in line "with the broader operating environment in the spectrum adjacent to Iridium's downlinks," including more than five million of mobile satellite service mobile earth terminals that are allowed to uplink at power levels five to 10,000 times higher than Ligado's LTE terminals. Ligado also said the odds it would agree to more OOBE level reductions rise "if certain flawed assumptions underlying Iridium's ... technical showing were adjusted to reflect more accurate, suitable and typical values." The filing also included a synopsis of numerous technical critiques of Iridium's assertions. Iridium didn't comment Thursday.