The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau today says it has completed its investigation into DISH for failure to properly deorbit its EchoStar-7 satellite, accepting the company’s admission of liability and imposing a penalty of $150,000. This marks a first in space debris enforcement by the commission, which has stepped up its satellite policy efforts, including establishing the Space Bureau and implementing its Space Innovation Agenda. 

The FCC’s investigation found that the company violated the Communications Act, the FCC rules, and the terms of the company’s license by relocating its direct broadcast satellite (“DBS”) service EchoStar-7 satellite at the satellite’s end-of-mission to a disposal orbit well below the elevation required by the terms of its license.  At this lower altitude, it could pose orbital debris concerns.    

“As satellite operations become more prevalent and the space economy accelerates, we must be certain that operators comply with their commitments,” said Enforcement Bureau Chief Loyaan A. Egal.  “This is a breakthrough settlement, making very clear the FCC has strong enforcement authority and capability to enforce its vitally important space debris rules.”

FCC rules prohibit the use or operation of any apparatus for the transmission of energy or communications or signals by a space or earth station except under and in accordance with a commission-granted authorization. The rule is designed to prevent interference in satellite operations and allows the commission to coordinate and evaluate those operations, including minimizing the creation of space debris and ensuring responsible end-of-mission satellite disposal.

DISH launched its EchoStar-7 satellite in 2002.  In an orbital debris mitigation plan later filed by DISH, and approved by the commission in 2012, the company committed to bring the satellite at the end of its mission to an altitude of 300 km above its operational geostationary arc.  In subsequent filings with the FCC, DISH estimated that, based on the remaining fuel and projected operational parameters, the satellite’s end-of-mission deorbit maneuvers would take place in May 2022. 

However, in February 2022, DISH determined that the satellite had very little propellant left, which meant it could not follow the original orbital debris mitigation plan in its license.  DISH ultimately retired the satellite at a disposal orbit approximately 122 km above the geostationary arc, well short of the disposal orbit of 300 km specified in its orbital debris mitigation plan.

The Consent Decree is available at: https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-23-888A1.pdf.

ENGLEWOOD, Colo.—Dish Network and EchoStar have reached an agreement that will see Dish taking over elements of EchoStar’s Broadcast Satellite Services business.

In exchange for 22.9 million shares of Dish Network stock, valued at approximately $800 million, EchoStar will transfer nine direct broadcast satellites, key employees responsible for satellite operation, licensing for the 61.5-degree orbital slot and select real estate properties to Dish. The shares will be distributed to EchoStar stakeholders.

The DBS spacecraft involved in the transaction include the EchoStar VII, EchoStar X, EchoStar XI, EchoStar XII, EchoStar XIV, EchoStar XVI, EchoStar XXIII, Nimiq 5 and QuetzSat-1.

Dish had previously acquired EchoStar assets to help deliver Dish TV and Sling TV customer experiences in 2017. This new acquisition brings certain elements that were omitted from that acquisition in house for Dish, according to Dish President and CEO Erik Carlson.

The deal is expected to be finalized in the second half of 2019, subject to the satisfaction or waiver of closing conditions.

WASHINGTON — NAB and the National Translator Association separately this week filed comments with the FCC stating their objection to allowing wireless services to share or use C Band satellite spectrum.

NAB told the agency that the 3.7–4.2 GHz band is widely used to distribute television and radio content to broadcasters. “Virtually every U.S. television and radio household relies on C Band satellite operations for content distribution in some manner,” NAB said.

Thousands of MVPDs, more than 1,000 TV stations, OTT service providers and radio stations rely on C Band. National Public Radio uses C Band for reliable distribution of content to 475 public radio earth stations, a critical link in the distribution chain of content to 42 million Americans every week, NAB said.

NAB also told the FCC that practical alternatives to C Band, such as fiber, “are significantly overstated.” Often alternatives aren’t available, and in areas where fiber is present “it may not be economically viable,” NAB said.

The FCC should not assume that technical solutions will be created that makes sharing the spectrum possible, the association said. “NAB reiterates that, as a practical matter, this means the commission should acknowledge that terrestrial users cannot share C Band frequencies based on geographic separation alone,” it said.

[Read: More Broadcasters Weigh in on C Band Sharing]

NAB pointed out that C Band facilities are highly sensitive to enable signal reception from an orbiting signal source more than 22,000 miles over head. As such, they are quite vulnerable to terrestrial interference. The association also told the FCC that it should reject any proposal to do away with or constrain its full-band, full-arc earth station licensing policy.

In its comments, the National Translator Association pointed out the FCC has asked a question in its public notice that cannot be answered. “It asks: ‘How should we assess the operations and possible impacts of sharing on Federal and non-Federal users already operating in this band?’” NTA quotes the public notice as saying. The FCC has made registration of domestic receive-only C Band terminals optional since a 1979 deregulation. “No one knows how many private, public, commercial or noncommercial R/O users there are here,” NTA said.

While the FCC has set up a way to register R/O C-band users recently, it “is obvious that more users are out there — many more — than are aware of the registration deadline or are willing and able to pay the [registration] fee,” NTA said.

As a result, if new users are allowed into the C Band, it is certain only registered users will be protected and “many other existing users will be harmed, and some will be driven out of business,” it said. Many LPTV and translator stations will face an added problem because they are required to migrate to new terrestrial channels as part of the TV spectrum repack. Many will need to geographically relocate, which means “affected parties cannot file [C Band receive site registration] now to protect facilities that they do not yet know will be needed.”

NTA urged the agency “to start over” and “determine that all C Band dishes serving existing TV or radio distribution as of a certain date — whether registered or not — shall be automatically protected against harmful interference from subsequent arriving users.”

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WASHINGTON—The first satellite was launched into space by the Soviet Union more than 60 years ago and ever since the technology has been a major factor in the distribution of communications and signals, including for the broadcast industry. However, as IP, OTT and other new forms of distribution continue to emerge and develop, is satellite going to come crashing back down to earth? Not necessarily, according to the panelists of the “Ultra HDTV Live Event and News Broadcasting: The Olympics and Beyond” panel at the Satellite 2018 conference.

The desire and capability to transmit content over IP continues to grow and many are looking toward OTT and other terrestrial services to do so, but according to panelist Antonio Arcidiacono, director of Innovation at Eutelsat S.A., those services don’t have a monopoly on IP. Arcidiacono says that satellites are just as capable of transmitting IP content and without some of the issues that terrestrial services may have.

Latency is one of the big issues when it comes to content, especially live content like sports, where concerns over available bandwidth can create multisecond delays. Arcidiacono says that problem is minimized with satellite, that there is in initial delay of about 120ms as it is being converted, “but once you’ve done this you are blended into the place you should be.”

[Eutelsat Globecast Launching Media Platform Over the Americas]

In sports, this is obviously a big deal. Rudiger Ellis, CEO of Switchboard Live, a video streaming platform, said the goal of every broadcaster is to give their audiences the highest quality content possible, in addition to HD or UHD, for live sports that include the least amount of latency so fans aren’t finding out about a game winning shot on social media before their screen buffers it.

This is why, according to the panel, satellite is still used as a primary source for major sports broadcasts, including the Olympics and the upcoming World Cup. In addition to providing that high-quality content, the panel explained that satellite can also prove to be a more reliable source in areas where bandwidth or other terrestrial signals are harder to access.

Broadcasters are utilizing IP and OTT technology for live productions, but rather than switching over completely, they use a combination of satellite terrestrial technology to ensure that they can deliver the content as reliably and in as many ways as possible.

This philosophy is ranging beyond sports too, as panelist Bart Van Poucke told the panel that Netflix and YouTube have been using satellite technology to help distribute their content to countries with less bandwidth or other connection issues.

So while IP may in fact be the way of the future, satellite isn’t going extinct immediately and Arcidiacono shared his thoughts as to why.

“On one side you have the new world where everything is IP, everything is flexible,” he said. “On the other side you have the legacy, and the legacy takes time before you get rid of the legacy system because people have been building business around it, people have been developing solutions. It’s the same thing on the broadcasting side.”

[Making Over-the-Air TV Cool Again]

There are still a number of new technological developments that will need to be addressed in the coming years that could impact how content is delivered, including the continued rise of UHD, augmented and virtual reality, to a variety and expanding choice of platforms. Even with all the change on the horizon, the panel firmly believes that in the realm of sports broadcasting, satellite will remain in the game for the time being.

NEW YORK—Satellite has been one of the key distribution methods for broadcasters for the last 40 years, but the last few years have seen growth in new technologies and services that are changing the status quo.

An artist's rendering of the SES-11 Satellite, courtesy of exhibitor SES

The sessions in the SATCON track will focus on a number of these new technologies and just what satellite providers can do to make sure they stay current and relevant in the new landscape.

The session “The Great Transition to OTT: What's the Impact?” will take a look at how content providers can us satellites to get the most out of OTT delivery. Panelists include Crystal Chief Operation Officer Alan Young and Globecomm Chief Commercial Offier Bryan McGuirk. Robert Bell, executive director for the Society of Satellite Professionals International, will moderate.

Like other technologies, satellites are also getting smaller, with companies launching constellations of smaller satellites that can handle broadband communications or RF monitoring. Satellite Industry Association President Tom Stroup will talk with Bruce Chesley, vice president global broadband for Boeing, about the impact of smaller satellites on traditional media applications.

In the first SATCON keynote session “IOT—Tapping Into the World's Most Profound Communication Tools—Easy as Delivering a Pizza,” session moderator Catherine Melquist, president of the Mobile Satellite Users Association and senior vice president of the satellite division at Sage Communication, unfortunately made it clear there wouldn't be pizza at the session. She said the title refers to the efforts by sessions panelist Nathan Kundtz and his company Kymeta Corp. to make satellite connectivity convenient.

“It's one thing to get information fast—our whole world has sped up a lot. But what Kymeta also wants to talk about is how their innovation is going to help make our life easier, [enabling us to] access the information that we have grown to rely upon on a day-to-day basis,” Melquist said.

The second SATCON keynote, “Above and Beyond—The Transformative State of the Satellite Industry,” will feature a panel that tackles the ways the satellite industry can adapt to the changing media landscape.

“How are the satellite industry and the satellite operators really going to accelerate their entry into their transition? And what services do they really need to consider to be a key part of the ecosystem?” posed Richard Wolf, executive vice president, sales and marketing, for The Switch/Beers Enterprises Inc., one of the keynote's panelists. He will be joined on the panel by Mike Antonovich, CEO Eutelsat Americas; Kurt Riegelman, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Intelsat Global S.A.; and Brent Stranathan, vice president, broadcast distribution, CBS; with moderator Susan Irwin, president of Irwin Communications.

The final SATCON session, “Analyze This—Capital Market Trends Impacting the Satellite Sector,” will be a series of Lightning Talks with PJT Partners' Jim Murray, Milbank Tweed's Peter Nesgos and GH Partners' Noel Rimalovski on a number of different market trends. J. Armand Musey of Summit Ridge Group LLC will moderate.

All SATCON sessions will take place on Tech FWD Stag 1, except “Above and Beyond,” which will take place on the Focus FWD Keynote Stage.