Tim Warren

U.K. Business Secretary Vincent Cable was removed from his role as overseer of media and telecom policy after he was caught by reporters saying he had declared war on News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch. Cable recently initiated Ofcom’s review of the company’s proposed purchase of the rest of British Sky Broadcasting it doesn’t already own. Jeremy Hunt, a conservative secretary of state for Culture, Media and Sport, will take over for Cable in handling media and telecom policy, though Prime Minister David Cameron will keep Cable on as business secretary. Also Tuesday, the European Commission gave its blessing to News Corp.-BSkyB, saying it wouldn’t harm competition.

The Mexican government will pay Boeing $1.31 billion to deliver an “end-to-end satellite communications system,” the company said Monday. The delivery consists of three satellites: One fixed satellite services satellite and two mobile satellite services satellite. Boeing said it will contract out construction of the FSS satellite to Orbital Sciences. The system will also include two ground sites, associated network operations systems and user terminals, said Boeing. The contract is Boeing’s second $1 billion, three-satellite contract within five months, after a major deal with Inmarsat (CD Aug 9 p9).

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s plans to add net neutrality rules under the agency’s existing Title I authority comes as a relief to satellite broadband companies, said an industry executive. Under the Title I approach, satellite broadband would not be subject to Universal Service Fund contributions, as could have been the case had the agency gone forward with Title II reclassification, said Steven Doiron, director of regulatory affairs at Hughes Network Systems. Although the details of Genachowski’s plan haven’t been released, the FCC’s efforts aren’t expected to have major impact on satellite broadband providers’ businesses otherwise, said executives.

LightSquared shot back in FCC filings at companies and wireless associations opposing its ancillary terrestrial component license modification application now being considered by the International Bureau. The bureau should move forward and approve the modification through adjudication, LightSquared said. Critics have said the modification would mean a significant change to mobile satellite services/ATC policy (CD Dec 6 p7). LightSquared, which plans to lease out its spectrum wholesale, recently said its business plans would allow retailers the choice to offer devices that don’t connect to satellite. MSS/ATC licensees are currently required to only offer devices able to connect to both satellite and terrestrial services. The filings are at http://xrl.us/bh969f.

A commissioner from each party offered a divergent view on whether the agency can act on the net neutrality order set for a Dec. 21 vote. Speaking at a Practising Law Institute conference in Washington Thursday, Democratic Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said FCC action on net neutrality offers the speed and flexibility that a legislative solution simply can’t offer. GOP Commissioner Meredith Baker said the agency is “not empowered to regulate the Internet.” Baker’s views against the net neutrality draft that Chairman Julius Genachowski circulated last week have been well known, while Clyburn has been thought to be generally supportive of it (CD Dec 8 p1) but hadn’t said very much publicly in recent days on the issue.

Over-the-top video represents only a modest threat to pay-TV subscription rates, DirecTV Chief Financial Officer Pat Doyle said Tuesday at a UBS investors conference. Only a marginal group of “outliers” will give up subscription to watch programming online, he said. The company will “certainly monitor” developments in over-the-top content but doesn’t consider it an immediate threat, he said. Still, DirecTV foresees a TV market that relies on both conventional delivery and Internet connections, he said.

What was initially filed at the FCC International Bureau as a routine license modification request by LightSquared has drawn significant attention and complaint from major wireless companies and associations. Carrier interests including CTIA, Verizon Wireless and AT&T said LightSquared’s request for mobile satellite service/ancillary terrestrial component authority modification seeks what amounts to a major policy change for MSS/ATC and should be handled through a rulemaking. The filings are at http://xrl.us/bh969f.

TerreStar’s bankruptcy proceeding could take a surprising humanitarian twist if ahumanright.org succeeds in buying TerreStar’s on-orbit satellite, TerreStar-1, to connect unserved populations to the Internet. The nonprofit organization has started a largely Web-based campaign to raise funds to purchase the satellite from the mobile satellite services company for Internet access in Papua New Guinea.

The FCC International Bureau extended the comment period Friday on a request by LightSquared for modification of its ancillary terrestrial component (ATC) license, after CTIA raised timing concerns Wednesday. The bureau had asked for input in a public notice that “was not available until late in the day” Nov. 19, said CTIA. The association said it asked for the extension in light of the Thanksgiving holiday and the brevity of the original 10-day comment period.

The FCC changed the rules for carriage of significantly viewed (SV) stations by satellite TV providers as part of its implementation of the Satellite TV Extension and Localism Act Tuesday. As expected (CD Nov 23 p9), the agency issued three unanimously approved orders and a further rulemaking. Under STELA, the FCC was responsible for updating rules for SV stations and predictive models for determining broadcast signal strength. The orders were largely in line with proposed rulemakings from earlier this year. They revise rules from the Satellite Home Viewer Extension and Reauthorization Act (SHVERA) that STELA replaced.