World satellite industry revenue rose 3.4 percent in 2013 to $195.2 billion, said a Satellite Industry Association report. The largest growth was in the satellite services segment, with a nearly $7 billion increase in revenue, SIA said in a news release Monday on its State of the Satellite Industry Report (http://bit.ly/1lVRo8c). SIA said that increase was driven by continued growth in consumer satellite television services. Manufacturing revenue reached $15.7 billion, but launch revenue dropped 7 percent, it said. Revenue from satellite ground equipment had a slight increase of 1 percent to $55.5 billion, SIA said. U.S. satellite market revenue grew 5 percent to $85.9 billion, with manufacturing reaching $10.9 billion mainly due to the delivery of a large number of high-value satellites for U.S. government customers, it said. Fixed satellite services worldwide remained flat, while mobile satellite services grew 6 percent, the report said. Commercially procured launches worldwide increased to 62, up from 59 launches in 2012, said SIA. “Government customers worldwide remained the major satellite launch revenue driver, reaching 70 percent of commercially-procured satellite launch revenues, up from 64 percent in 2012.” The U.S. had the largest share of the launch revenue, with more than 70 percent of the revenue coming from the launch of U.S. government satellites, it said. The report was prepared by The Tauri Group, which polled more than 80 satellite companies, SIA said.

DirecTV asked the FCC for confidential treatment of video clips from its “Short Cuts” product. The firm no longer has the copyrights needed to support public display of these clips and the company would like them to be withheld from public inspection, it said in an ex parte filing posted Thursday to docket 11-154 (http://bit.ly/1sS4E0w). The DBS company provided the commission with the clips via IP during the 2013-2014 season as part of its NFL Sunday Ticket Max service, it said. “They are no longer available to the public from DIRECTV, and should not be made available indirectly through the Commission’s website."

Hughes and Xplornet signed an agreement to provide satellite broadband services to Canada on EchoStar 19 capacity. The next-generation high throughput satellite is due to launch in 2016, Hughes’ parent company EchoStar and Xplornet said Wednesday in a news release (http://bit.ly/1strn0N). Under the agreement, Xplornet also “will take delivery of satellite gateways, operational and support services, and consumer user terminals in a program that is expected to be worth more than $200 million,” it said. Xplornet expects the capacity to enable it to meet the growing demands of its rural customers, it said.

The FCC Media Bureau should reject a petition from satellite companies to amend the FCC over-the-air reception device (OTARD) rules, Boston officials told bureau staff in a meeting Monday, said an ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/1mSJuQL). The petition was filed by DirecTV, Dish and the Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association. Along with rejecting the petition to amend, the bureau should take up the long-pending 2012 satellite industry petitions against Boston, Chicago and Philadelphia, said the filing posted Tuesday to docket 12-121. City officials in Boston and Philadelphia bemoaned the proliferation of dishes while an FCC decision is pending (CD April 22 p4).

The Commerce and State departments are issuing concurrent interim final rules to transfer export controls on spacecraft, including satellites, from U.S. Munitions List (USML) Category XV (Spacecraft and Related Articles) to the Commerce Control List (CCL), said notices from each department slated to appear in Tuesday’s Federal Register. Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security and the State Department have been prioritizing revision to Category XV for months. The transfers are part of the administration’s export control revamp. Large portions of both rules will be effective Nov. 10, following a 180-day grace period to let industry adjust to the regulatory changes. The interim rules incorporate changes suggested through comments on the proposal published in the Federal Register May 24, 2013, and both agencies will accept comments until June 26. The Commerce rule (http://1.usa.gov/RAILVY) creates four new Export Control Classification Numbers in CCL Category 9. The controls on radiation-hardened and other microelectronic circuits will be removed from the USML June 26. International Traffic in Arms Regulations controls on software and technical data related to microelectronic circuits will also be removed then from the USML. The State final rule (http://1.usa.gov/RAILVY) will be effective Nov. 10, except for Section 121.1, which effective June 26 amends portions of Category IV (launch vehicles, guided missiles, ballistic missiles, rockets, torpedoes, bombs and mines) that deal with spacecraft-launch vehicle integration and launch failure analysis services. In Category XV, certain commercial communications and remote sensing satellites will be subject to CCL controls after the Nov. 10 effective date. State is also transferring USML items to the CCL by limiting its scope of control on ground control systems and training simulators specially designed for telemetry, tracking and control of spacecraft. State will keep USML control on certain GPS receiving equipment, which will be up for export control changes in amendments to USML Category XII (fire control, range finder, optical and guidance and control equipment).

Inmarsat seeks access to the U.S. market using a proposed Ka-band satellite, Inmarsat-KA 63 W. The satellite will operate under the authority of the U.K., said the FCC International Bureau in a public notice Friday (http://fcc.us/1jIeSh3). Inmarsat would like to market access to provide fixed satellite service (FSS) using the 18.3-19.3 GHz, 19.7-20.2 GHz, 28.1-29.1 GHz and 29.5-30.0 GHz bands, the bureau said. Inmarsat also seeks a waiver of the commission’s rules to permit geosynchronous orbit FSS operations in the 18.8-19.3 GHz band on a non-interference basis, it said.

ViaSat started Exede Business, a high-speed satellite Internet service for small and medium-sized businesses. It’s available “in all or portions of more than 40 states covered by the ViaSat-1 satellite,” ViaSat said in a news release Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1njBwiT). It offers speeds of 15 Mbps and a total monthly data allowance of 60 GB, it said. Half of the allowance is available during the peak data period between 8 a.m. and 3 a.m., “with an additional 30 GB available in the Early Morning Data Zone from 3 a.m. to 8 a.m.,” it said.

Eutelsat and The International Media Associates (TIMA) signed an agreement for capacity on Eutelsat 10A. The satellite will provide satellite news gathering across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Eutelsat said in a news release Tuesday (http://bit.ly/Sx7xr8). Capacity also will be used for reporting from TIMA’s studios at its central London headquarters, Eutelsat said.

LightSquared isn’t yet providing commercial service using its ancillary terrestrial component authority in light of the FCC’s public notice that recommended a modification of the company’s satellite license. The wholesale satellite capacity company remains committed to working cooperatively with Congress, federal agencies and the GPS industry “to address the concerns raised by the GPS industry and others,” LightSquared said in a semi-annual report to the FCC posted Friday in docket 08-184 (http://bit.ly/1uf2J7Y). Beginning in 2012, the company made a series of filings that proposed solutions that would allow it to deploy terrestrial broadband service “in a way that ensures that GPS receivers are compatible with LightSquared’s operations,” it said. The satellites operated by LightSquared have performed nominally and as expected over the past six months, it said.

Eutelsat signed a distribution agreement with Wireless Innovation to use Eutelsat’s Ka-Sat satellite for communication services and connectivity for temporary and mobile offices to the utilities, renewables, construction, asset management and military sectors in Europe. Ka-Sat is optimized for broadband communications, Eutelsat said in a press release (http://bit.ly/1u5bMYR). Its spotbeam configuration allows frequencies to be reused 20 times and takes total satellite throughput to beyond 90 Gbps, it said.