The crafting of new confidentiality rules shouldn't put Charter Communications' buy of Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable on hold, FCC Commissioners Ajit Pai and Michael O’Rielly said Thursday, urging the agency to begin its regulatory review. The FCC "should follow the direction that the D.C. Circuit previously provided in a similar case: 'The agency has access to the relevant documents at issue in this matter and can continue to evaluate the proposed merger....' So let’s start the ‘aspirational’ merger review shot clock and get on with the process," the two said in a statement.
Altice's $9.1 billion entrance into the U.S. cable market should include a $9.95 broadband offering for the types of households least likely or able to subscribe to broadband services, the California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) said in one of the few comments submitted to the FCC as the European company looks to buy a majority of Suddenlink Communications by the end of the year.
SpaceX's experimental satellites to be tested next year in advance of the much larger low earth orbit (LEO) constellation it has planned for a global broadband service will turn off and on to avoid geostationary satellite signal interference, the company said in an Office of Engineering and Technology filing. The risks of those thousands of small satellites colliding with anything in orbit are microscopic, said the filing posted Monday.
SpaceX's experimental satellites to be tested next year in advance of the much larger low earth orbit (LEO) constellation it has planned for a global broadband service will turn off and on to avoid geostationary satellite signal interference, the company said in an Office of Engineering and Technology filing. The risks of those thousands of small satellites colliding with anything in orbit are microscopic, said the filing posted Monday.
The FCC Connect America Fund Phase II requirement of monthly broadband allowances of 100 GB could be a hurdle satellite broadband can't clear. "There is simply a physical limit to the amount of capacity that satellite broadband providers can make available," Hughes Network Systems said in a filing posted Monday in docket 10-90 in which it asked that a minimum use allowance be "a more achievable" monthly data allowance requirement of 50 GB. A universal requirement of 100 GB per month everywhere "is likely unattainable at this time" and could keep satellite broadband providers from being able to take part in the bidding, Hughes said.
The FCC Connect America Fund Phase II requirement of monthly broadband allowances of 100 GB could be a hurdle satellite broadband can't clear. "There is simply a physical limit to the amount of capacity that satellite broadband providers can make available," Hughes Network Systems said in a filing posted Monday in docket 10-90 in which it asked that a minimum use allowance be "a more achievable" monthly data allowance requirement of 50 GB. A universal requirement of 100 GB per month everywhere "is likely unattainable at this time" and could keep satellite broadband providers from being able to take part in the bidding, Hughes said.
Any FCC efforts to claw back Dish Network designated entity (DE) credits face a big hurdle within the halls of the agency itself. "The notion you'll get three votes on the eighth floor is far from certain," said a communications lawyer whose firm has done satellite work: "If you don't get majority approval on the eighth floor, it's nothing more than a staff recommendation."
Any FCC efforts to claw back Dish Network designated entity (DE) credits face a big hurdle within the halls of the agency itself. "The notion you'll get three votes on the eighth floor is far from certain," said a communications lawyer whose firm has done satellite work: "If you don't get majority approval on the eighth floor, it's nothing more than a staff recommendation."
Declaring itself interconnection fee-free helps Charter Communications' bid for regulatory approval to buy Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable, said industry officials in interviews this week. By how much remains to be seen, they said. "I think it makes it a much easier sell," Cogent Communications CEO Dave Schaeffer said. "Anything they can show that they are willing to promote Internet growth ... will quell a lot of the concerns regulators had."
Declaring itself interconnection fee-free helps Charter Communications' bid for regulatory approval to buy Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable, said industry officials in interviews this week. By how much remains to be seen, they said. "I think it makes it a much easier sell," Cogent Communications CEO Dave Schaeffer said. "Anything they can show that they are willing to promote Internet growth ... will quell a lot of the concerns regulators had."