Sirius XM seeks a license for a 7.6-meter Ku-band feeder link facility in Ellenwood, Georgia, it said in an application to the FCC International Bureau (http://bit.ly/1xcZRqG). Separately, Brigham Young University in Utah wants to modify its existing C-band transmit/receive earth station in Rexburg, Idaho, it said in its application (http://bit.ly/1rjgv6s). The modification will add a 30 MHz digital video carrier to the license and adjust antenna gains, antenna height and other features of the 5.06 MHz carriers, it said.
Divona and Eutelsat signed a multiyear contract for a 72 MHz transponder on Eutelsat 21B. Divona selected Eutelsat to consolidate its network connectivity offer to mobile telecom operators and enterprises in Algeria and the Southern Europe, Eutelsat said Wednesday in a news release (http://bit.ly/WDgyAP).
Inmarsat, SES and Telesat continued to urge the FCC not to attempt to impose regulatory fees on foreign-licensed satellite operators. Doing so would be unjustified, they said in joint reply comments in dockets 14-92, 13-140 and 12-201 (http://bit.ly/1yX0CqD). If the FCC decides a mechanism to recover costs of processing U.S. market access requests for foreign satellites is needed, “it should do so through earth station regulatory fees,” they said. An FCC decision to adopt a fee could lead to a proliferation of fees around the world that would harm operators of U.S.-licensed satellites serving other countries, they said. They opposed Intelsat’s call for adopting a new fee, saying Intelsat improperly relies on application processing costs to support an annual regulatory fee and it “disregards the real risk of a proliferation of market access fees around the world.”
A possible 21st Century Fox and Time Warner combination would likely win regulatory approval, a Guggenheim Partners analyst said. Under antitrust law, each company’s products may not compete with each other, analyst Paul Gallant said Thursday in a research note. But adding the combined company to pending pay-TV deals, like Comcast/Time Warner Cable and AT&T/DirecTV, “makes the political dynamic somewhat risky and unpredictable,” he said. 21st Century Fox and Time Warner content may be separate products from the distributors’ perspective, he said, and the companies probably don’t compete with each other for license fees from distributors: “With rare exceptions, distributors need channels from all content companies to offer a competitive product.” The channels owned by each company may well be its own product market, he said. The deal’s effect on bargaining power with pay-TV distributors will probably be a key focus for antitrust regulators, he said. 21st Century Fox probably wouldn’t need FCC approval because Time Warner doesn’t have broadcast licenses that would need FCC approval to transfer, he said. Attorneys had said similar (CD July 17 p12).
The newly introduced Slingbox M1 and SlingTV boxes replace the Slingbox 350 and 500 models, and both are the only products capable of delivering pay TV channels and programs to a mobile device in up to HD quality “with no restrictions,” EchoStar-owned Sling Media said Wednesday. The company says the Slingbox M1, listed at $149, is “the most affordable” Slingbox that Sling Media has ever produced. It has integrated Wi-Fi and uses the new SlingPlayer for Desktop app for PCs and Mac to cut set-up to less than 10 minutes, it said. The new SlingTV, $299, uses new TV navigational tools to enable better viewing of pay TV channels anywhere in the world on a computer or mobile device, it said. It also converts the TV connected to it into a “smarter” set without having to upgrade to a new TV or set-top box, it said.
AOL’s Adap.tv acquired a patent “that advances the development of data-driven video across digital and TV,” Adap.tv said in a Wednesday news release (http://bit.ly/1tRIKhI). Patent No. 8,768,770 is intended to bring the concept of “conversion tracking” -- “traditionally associated with digital,” the company said -- to TV. “In contrast to digital, TV has had imprecise methods for attributing airings of TV ads to in-store and online sales conversions,” Adap.tv said. The patent, combined with another granted in January (No. 8,627,359), will work to make those connections, Adap.tv said.
Sinclair reached a two-year retransmission consent agreement for its WNWO-TV Toledo, with Buckeye Cablevision. The station wasn’t available on Buckeye’s lineup after the companies failed to reach an agreement last year, which prompted Buckeye to file a complaint with the FCC against Sinclair (CD Feb 21 p20). Under the agreement, Buckeye will pay a signing bonus to WNWO, “which is in an amount that more than covers the legal fees incurred as a result of a complaint filed by Buckeye” at the FCC, Sinclair said Tuesday in a news release (http://bit.ly/1ntm9yJ). The complaint will be withdrawn in connection with the new agreement, it said.
Tremor Video partnered with DoubleVerify to help eliminate fraud from Tremor’s network for advertisers. The partnership will help Tremor, an advertising technology company, to evaluate each campaign running through its network and “ensure advertisers are getting high-value engagements and impressions,” Tremor said Tuesday in a news release (http://bit.ly/1oF5nOc). Tremor will use DoubleVerify advanced fraud protection, “which is designed to pre-emptively identify and eliminate bot-based impressions from corrupting campaigns” brought through Tremor, it said. The protection will safeguard every campaign that uses Tremor’s network in Canada, the U.K., and the U.S., it said.
The FCC is unlikely to help Aereo, even if the streaming TV service is successful in getting a federal judge to grant it a compulsory copyright license (CD July 11 p10), emailed Guggenheim Partners analyst Paul Gallant to investors. If Aereo succeeds in U.S. District Court in New York, the FCC would likely get involved, and could classify the company as a cable system, Gallant said. That could ruin Aereo’s business, since FCC recognition of Aereo as a cable system would mean it would have to obey retransmission consent rules and carry local TV signals, Gallant said. “What Aereo appears to need from the FCC is either: a) For the FCC simply not to act; or b) For the FCC to declare Aereo is neither a cable operator nor an MVPD.” The multichannel video programming distributor route is more likely, because of the influence of the Aereo Supreme Court ruling and of broadcasters and pay-TV companies, who are likely to demand that Aereo follow the same rules they do, Gallant said Monday. On Tuesday, the Copyright Office sought comment in light of last month’s Aereo high court ruling on making-available and communication-to-the-public rights. (See separate report above in this issue.)
The NASA Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System earth station operating in the 14.0-14.2 GHz band at Blossom Point, Maryland, will become fully operational Sept. 8. All earth stations on vessels, on vehicles and onboard aircraft must cease operations in that band within 125 km or radio line-of-sight of the new TDRSS site “until after the operator completes coordination for the new TDRSS site,” the FCC International Bureau said Friday in a public notice (http://bit.ly/1n34Bzd). Unless the operator has completed a coordination agreement with NASA, such operations must cease by Sept. 7, it said.