Telesat plans to launch two low earth orbit satellites in mid- to late 2017 to test and validate plans for an eventual high-throughput, Ka-band LEO constellation, the company said in a news release Wednesday. Telesat said it's contracted with SSL and Airbus' Surrey Satellite Technology for the two prototypes and already has priority rights to some Ka-band spectrum in non-geostationary orbits through the ITU for the constellation.

ViaSat and the European Space Agency (ESA) will jointly work on an effort to speed up high-capacity satellite products and applications, the two said in a news release Thursday. To start the three-year High Capacity Satellite Applications Factory Initiative (HSC Initiative), Belgium, Switzerland and the U.K. will put up close to $34 million while ViaSat will launch an online portal, the Space Hub, for information sharing among the ESA, European nations and others, they said. ViaSat also potentially could provide technical support for projects chosen under the HCS Initiative, they said. Keven Lippert, ViaSat executive vice president-Space Systems and Corporate Development, said the nascent HCS industry "need[s] constant innovation, fresh thinking and investment from across industry, academia and government. By partnering with ESA and others on the High Capacity Satellite Applications Factory Initiative, we are making a commitment to energise development and reduce time-to-market for new High Capacity Satellite technologies, applications and services across Europe."

Facebook will employ three SES satellites -- Astra 2G, Astra 3B and Astra 4A -- and various SES services to provide high-speed broadband connectivity services to sub-Saharan Africa through its Express Wi-Fi program, SES said in a news release Wednesday.

An FTC lawsuit against DirecTV is heading to settlement proceedings, said U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam of San Francisco in an order (in Pacer) Wednesday referring the case to Chief Magistrate Judge Joseph Spero. The agency sued Dish in 2015, alleging it wasn't properly communicating early cancelation fees that subscribers face if they sign up and then quit the service before two years (see 1503110042).

While the licensed lifespan of Intelsat 701 expires July 18, Intelsat is seeking an extension of its license term through Dec. 31, 2018, the company said in an FCC International Bureau filing Monday. The satellite went into service in 2001 and the expected end of its service life is late 2018, the company said.

Intelsat expects to get another decade of life out of Intelsat 10, it said in an FCC International Bureau application Friday, seeking an extension for the satellite's current license term. Intelsat 10 -- at 47.5 degrees east -- was launched in 2001 and is licensed through July 2, but that expiration date "is well before the expected end of service life ... which is mid-to-late 2026," Intelsat said in its application, seeking an extension to Sept. 30, 2026.

With its special temporary authority expiring May 6 to do international waters testing of ViaSat's KuKarray antenna to make sure it's suitable for U.S. Air Force Air Mobility Command use, Boeing is seeking an extension. In an FCC International Bureau filing Wednesday, Boeing said it needed 30 more days to complete the evaluation of the antenna in use with its Boeing Broadband Satellite Network.

While awaiting a ruling on its application to permanently relocate Intelsat 1R to 50.1 degrees west (see 1602220010), Intelsat is seeking special temporary authority to drift the satellite from its current home at 50 degrees west and to operate it at 50.1 degrees west. In an FCC International Bureau filing Tuesday, Intelsat said 1R is being moved after transfer of some of its traffic to the recently launched Intelsat 29e, with the drift expected to start June 1 and to take "a few days."

Dish Network is clashing with the FTC, DOJ and four states over an October hearing on a permanent telemarketing injunction that Dish says "would have grave consequences" for its and its retailers' businesses. The U.S. is misstating Dish's decision to decline supplemental discovery, it said, and Dish won't use documents in 2015 supplemental discovery disclosures, but it's "not barred from presenting, and will present, other evidence" against the injunctive relief, Dish said in opposition (in Pacer) filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Springfield, Illinois. The filing was in response to an FTC and Justice Department motion (in Pacer) filed in March seeking to cancel the Oct. 24 hearing. The mandatory injunction issue was bifurcated from the rest of the trial that ended Feb. 24 of robocall allegations brought by the FTC, California, Illinois, North Carolina and Ohio (see 0903260144). Dish said in its filing it originally intended to present evidence during the Phase I trial dealing with the permanent injunction, but the court ordered that the scope of discovery would include nearly six years of call records, which would take a couple of years of discovery, so it opted "to decline to engage in that exercise." Dish said it plans in a permanent injunction hearing to introduce testimony and other evidence from witnesses "that will demonstrate the impracticability of the specific terms of the requested injunction, the adverse impact that it would have on Dish's business and the business of its retailers, and its excessive scope." The FTC and DOJ in their motion said that by choosing not to engage in discovery, the satellite company is waiving reliance on any compliance evidence that would postdate March 2010, the last date of call records it produced in discovery. It also said Dish had plenty of time at the four-week trial that ended Feb. 24 to present compliance evidence and "there is nothing new that Dish can offer at the October hearing except oral testimony about information that was turned over during discovery." In a separate response (in Pacer) Friday, the state plaintiffs said they support the U.S. request, citing Dish declining additional discovery and withdrawing its previously offered analysis. The states also asked that the court keep the Oct. 24 date open for other issues that may come up in discovery that Dish is scheduled to produce April 25.

Intelsat's and Harmonic's joint linear 4K ultra-HD demonstration channel, HVN Intelsat UHD, is available in Latin America, the companies said in a news release Monday. The channel already had been broadcast in North America via Galaxy 13, and now is available in Latin America via the Intelsat 14 satellite, they said. The free-to-air linear channel will enable multichannel video programming distributors and cable programmers "operating in Latin America to test their consumers’ appetite for varying forms of high-quality content," said Peter Ostapiuk, Intelsat head-media product services.