Consumer Watchdog hails the FTC’s deceptive advertising lawsuit against DirecTV (see 1503110042) and wants the FCC to require that DirecTV “cease its anti-consumer policies as a condition” of approving AT&T’s buy of it, the California nonprofit said Friday. Consumer Watchdog sued DirecTV on similar allegations in 2008 in a case that’s still pending in a California appellate court. Jessica Rich, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, has said the complaint against DirecTV “has nothing to do” with any regulatory “evaluation” of AT&T’s planned buy of DirecTV, “and I have no comment on how it might affect it.” U.S. Magistrate Judge Maria-Elena James in San Francisco has assigned the FTC’s complaint to the court’s “Alternative Dispute Resolution Multi-Option Program,” her March 12 scheduling order showed. The program's goal “is early, cost-effective and fair resolution of civil cases” through one of several “processes,” including arbitration or a settlement conference with a magistrate judge, the court’s website shows. James’ scheduling order sets a May 21 deadline for ADR process selection, to be followed by a June 11 initial case management conference.

ViaSat affiliate ViaSat Technologies signed a credit agreement for a $525 million direct loan from the U.S. Export-Import Bank for the ViaSat-2 high-capacity Ka-band communications satellite, ViaSat said in a news release Thursday. ViaSat Technologies will use the loan to finance about 85 percent of construction, insurance and launch for ViaSat-2 and exposure fees for the facility, it said. ViaSat-2, being manufactured by Boeing, will expand coverage for more than 40 countries in North America, Central America, the Caribbean and South America, and aeronautical and maritime routes between Europe and North America, it said. The satellite will double the bandwidth of ViaSat-1 and will be launched by SpaceX in late summer 2016, it said.

Gilat Satellite Networks partnered with Intelsat to enable rapid deployment for mobile network operators to quickly expand 2G/3G services to underserved regions of the world, it said in a news release Thursday. Gilat's CellEdge small-cell-over-satellite solution will be combined with Intelsat's global satellite coverage and IntelsatOne terrestrial infrastructure, it said. RuralCom's thousand-mile Alaska Highway and British Columbia Coast cellular network is an example of Gilat's and Intelsat's partnership, it said. Gilat and Intelsat let RuralCom expand its network and subscriber base at a reduced capital expenditure base level, it said.

TVfreedom.org weighed in with a statement Thursday backing the FTC in its allegations in a federal complaint that DirecTV engaged in deceptive advertising practices since 2007 (see 1503110042). “DirecTV's failure to clearly disclose the terms and prices customers would pay as part of contract agreements is unacceptable,” the group said. “It further demonstrates that greater regulatory oversight is needed to address these market failures. The FTC is right to step in.” TVfreedom.org and TV broadcasters have long supported “more transparent billing practices by all pay-TV companies,” hailing Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., for “spearheading efforts last year to shine a spotlight on this questionable behavior,” the group said. McCaskill tried unsuccessfully last year to organize a hearing on pay-TV billing practices when she chaired the Senate Consumer Protection Subcommittee (see 1412030047). McCaskill, now ranking member on the Senate Investigations Subcommittee, issued a statement of her own Wednesday, backing the FTC for "finally taking a swing for consumers." According to TVfreedom.org, Congress “has a unique opportunity to promote greater transparency and accountability in the video marketplace through its update of the Communications Act and help thwart the on-going consumer abuse by America's pay-TV industry. Promoting greater transparency and fairness to existing pay-TV business and billing practices is a vital and core consumer protection that should be incorporated into any proposed reform legislation." DirecTV has called the FTC’s allegations “flat-out wrong,” and vowed to “vigorously defend ourselves, for as long as it takes.” DirecTV spokesman Robert Mercer declined comment Thursday on the TVfreedom.org statement, as did NCTA spokesman Brian Dietz on the TVfreedom.org allegation that there's "on-going consumer abuse" in the pay-TV industry.

Sky-Stream FZ renewed capacity on SES’s NSS-6 satellite and added capacity for NSS-12 to deploy very small aperture terminal networks in the Middle East, SES said in a news release Wednesday. It said Sky-Stream will use Ku-band capacity on NSS-6 at 95 degrees east and NSS-12 at 57 degrees east.

L-3 Communication Systems-West was selected by Laser Light Communications as a contractor to provide its StarEdge ground node systems for Laser Light's SpaceCable network, L-3 said in a news release Tuesday. The network will be an all-optical commercial satellite system with global hybrid communications infrastructure, L-3 said. Free space optics, or lasers, transmit data 100 times faster than conventional radio frequency satellite systems, it said. SpaceCable will deliver fiber-equivalent bandwidth connections at low operating costs, it said. L-3's technology will manage multiple StarEdge ground node locations to limit network congestion slowdowns, outages or weather interruptions, it said. The network is scheduled to be deployed in late 2017, L-3 said.

Globalstar’s proposed authenticated Wi-Fi terrestrial low-power service (TLPS) wouldn’t interfere with neighboring Wi-Fi networks at 2.4 GHz and could relieve congestion, Guggenheim Securities analyst Paul Gallant said in a note Wednesday. Globalstar released results of its TLPS demonstration at the FCC Technology Experience Center on March 6 and 9. The test was conducted by test lab AT4 Wireless, venture fund Jarvinian Ventures and technology consultant Roberson & Associates, Globalstar said. “American consumers will benefit significantly from the provision of TLPS across 22 megahertz of additional broadband spectrum in the 2.4 GHz band,” it said in an ex parte notice posted Wednesday in docket 13-213. TLPS works well with Wi-Fi operations on IEEE 802.11 channel 11 and Bluetooth device operations in the unlicensed Industrial, Scientific and Medical band at 2400 to 2483.5 MHz, it said. Globalstar will likely win FCC approval in the first half of 2015, Gallant said. The commission asked for a technical demonstration at a Feb. 6 roundtable to address engineering concerns, and Globalstar, Bluetooth, NCTA and the Wi-Fi Alliance developed joint test plans at the commission on March 6 and 9, he said. Opponents of the system might file their own analysis of the tests, he said. The TLPS test created “meaningful improvement in existing Wi-Fi,” including a 40 percent increase in overall throughput when Wi-Fi traffic is spread across TLPS, Gallant said. “Greater congestion relief is likely in a noisier, real-world environment with many Wi-Fi access points contending for Wi-Fi channels.” Gerst Capital filed an opposition comment, questioning if any device operating on Wi-Fi Channel 14 was subject to Part 15.247 testing, to measure emissions limits at 2495 MHz instead of 2483.5 MHz. Deploying an inferior legacy standard isn't a viable option for TLPS, said manager of Gerst Capital Greg Gerst in his comment. "Publically available data refutes many key statements that Globalstar has made," said Gerst, who has an engineering background. He found discrepancies in Globalstar's tests. "I suspect there's something wrong in their test setup. They’re salesmen. All the so-called testing they’ve done is superficial at best, dubious at worst."

Sections 101, 103 and 105 of the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act Reauthorization Act of 2014 are effective April 2, the FCC said in a public notice Friday in docket 15-37. The commission released the order Feb. 18, and it appeared in the March 3 Federal Register. The commission will vote on Section 102 at its March 26 open meeting (see 1503060068).

DirecTV partnered with solar energy provider SolarCity to build a 1 megawatt solar array at its California Broadcast Center in Long Beach, the direct broadcast satellite company said in a news release Monday. The solar farm will produce over 1.6 million kilowatt-hours annually, it said. DirecTV will provide clean, renewable energy to facilities, customers and employees by working with SolarCity and working to reduce its carbon emissions by 40 percent by 2020, it said. DirecTV technicians will refer customers to SolarCity for clean energy for their homes, it said.

SES chose Arianespace to launch its all-electric SES-15 satellite, SES said in a news release Friday. SES-15, which weighs 2,300 kg and will operate at 129 degrees west for North America, will be launched on an Ariane 5 in Q2 2017 from the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana, said SES and Arianespace in a Friday news release. The satellite will use electric propulsion systems for orbit raising and in-orbit maneuvers (see 1502180055).