Tim Warren

Dish Network was chosen to provide the stalking horse bid for bankrupt TerreStar, setting the minimum bid price for the S-band licensee at $1.375 billion, court documents filed Wednesday said. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York must still approve the bid. Charlie Ergen, chairman of Dish and EchoStar, had appeared to be the front-runner to win the TerreStar assets (CD April 15 p3) despite saying during an earnings call this year that EchoStar, which has some ownership in TerreStar, would not bid on the company.

The FCC International Bureau’s long lead time on what is supposed to be a yearly satellite competition report isn’t a source of much concern around the industry, satellite executives said. Some executives said the large gap of time since the last report, which was adopted Oct. 14, 2008, may reflect an industry confidence in the market’s competitiveness and a lack of competitive concern on Capitol Hill. Others said the gap has left some in the industry wondering if the report is working as a means for monitoring competition in the market.

Universal broadband adoption will be as important to the news business as universal adoption of the delivery services for newspapers, radio and TV were to those media, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in a speech at the Columbia Journalism School Friday. Genachowski, along with Knight Foundation President Alberto Ibargüen and FCC Senior Adviser Steve Waldman, spoke about the FCC report on the status and future of media (CD June 10 p1). Waldman was its primary author.

TerreStar is in “active discussions” with interested bidders, the company said in a court notification of a bankruptcy auction delay filed late Tuesday. Bids for TerreStar’s assets were originally due Wednesday. TerreStar’s filing pushes the bid deadline back a week to June 15 and the auction to June 22. The TerreStar bankruptcy is one of several moving parts involved in what will happen in the S-band.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski defended in a May 31 letter to Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the process behind the International Bureau waiver granted to LightSquared in January that allows it to offer terrestrial-only services. The Senate Judiciary Committee’s Ranking Member had requested information on the process and any FCC communications about the waiver decision (CD May 18 p9). The Chairman’s letter didn’t address the requested FCC communications involving the decision.

LightSquared is considering initially only using the lower part of its L-band spectrum to help allay concerns over its interference with nearby GPS spectrum, satellite industry executives said. The GPS industry may be opposed to such a compromise, though, because even service at that level could impede important GPS operations, the executives said. LightSquared, along with the U.S. GPS Industry Council, is conducting tests looking at the potential for interference between LightSquared’s planned terrestrial service and GPS operations. The final report on that testing is due to the FCC June 15. LightSquared has access to 1525-1559 MHz in the L-band.

Congressional interest in LightSquared’s coming service doesn’t impede the company’s ongoing review of interference with GPS services, Executive Vice President Jeff Carlisle said in an interview Wednesday. “The important thing is to recognize Congress’ authority here,” he said. “Congress is an avenue for expressing concern about the issue, and we know it’s a real issue.” LightSquared has faced controversy throughout the process, with its service at the focus of several congressional statements and letters. Last week, a defense bill passed by the House included language that would require resolution of interference with GPS devices used by the Defense Department before the FCC can give the service its final OK (CD May 31 p14). “To the extent that those letters and activity reflect sincere concern, we are willing to work with the members and staff to make sure they understand what we are doing,” said Carlisle, head of regulatory affairs.

The U.S. Copyright Office should not delve into “hypothetical questions” about whether changes to the statutory copyright system would require changes to the Communications Act or FCC rules, said the NAB. It filed reply comments with the copyright office on what the office should recommend to Congress about alternatives to statutory licensing, a report required by the Satellite TV Extension and Localism Act. Multichannel video programming distributors made “misleading complaints about communications regulatory policies over which this Office has no jurisdiction,” said NAB.

EchoStar relinquished its five 17/24 GHz reverse band FCC authorizations Tuesday in an effort to rebut an FCC presumption of the company as using authorizations for speculation, FCC filings show. The surrendered authorizations are meant to clear the way at the FCC for EchoStar’s purchase of Hughes Communications, a $2 billion transaction currently being reviewed at the agency. No filings opposing the deal were made in that proceeding, though the agency did request additional satellite deployment plans in relation to the purchase, an EchoStar filing said. Although the company gave up the five authorizations, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have future plans using the reverse band, an industry executive said.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has some real concerns with the FCC’s work on allowing LightSquared to begin service, potentially at the expense of important GPS services, he said in a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski dated April 27. Grassley, ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, said he was “dismayed” to learn of the “accelerated timetable” the FCC used when considering LightSquared’s waiver application that allows the company to provide terrestrial wireless service. The letter to Genachowski was recently made public.