AT&T and DirecTV are arguing against points they once espoused on guaranteed access to sports programming, the American Cable Association said in an ex parte filing in docket 14-90 posted Wednesday, while an array of network affiliates is pushing for local TV requirements as a condition. The ACA has said AT&T's takeover of DirecTV should come with conditions to ensure rival multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) don't get stuck with higher costs for regional sports networks that the two jointly own or would jointly own -- Roots Sports Pittsburgh, Rocky Mountain and Southwest. DirecTV still remains subject to program access conditions, it and AT&T said in a response. But the two "themselves have a long history of raising the same concerns ... about vertically integrated programmers, particularly with respect to access to [regional sports networks] programming," with DirecTV in the past seeking conditions on others similar to what the ACA now seeks on it, the industry association said. Since DirecTV previously pushed for license conditions on deals involving regional sports programming and MVPD distribution, such as in Comcast's takeover of NBC/Universal, the FCC "should take heed of their prior advocacy," the ACA said. The sports programming issue is among what AT&T and DirecTV have called a "laundry list" of conditions proposed by parties such as ACA, Comptel, Cox, Dish, Public Knowledge and TiVo and opposed by the two (see [Ref:1505270049]). Meanwhile, the ABC Television Affiliates Association, the CBS Television Network Affiliates Association, the FBC Television Affiliates Association, and the NBC Television Affiliates collectively are pushing the FCC to require that a merged AT&T/DirecTV adopt local-into-local television service in all 210 local designated market areas. DirecTV currently does not offer any local television stations in 11 small markets around the country, ranging from Presque Isle, Maine, to Victoria, Texas. And forcing it to provide local-into-local service in every market would help offset the even-less interest a larger DirecTV would have in providing local service to every market, the associations said in an ex parte presentation filed Thursday.

SES launched an Ultra HD demonstration channel for the North American TV market, it said Tuesday. The channel, broadcast via SES-3 at 103 degrees west, will enable cable operators to prepare and test their networks for Ultra HD trials, the satellite operator said. The satellite provides broad coverage over North America and is positioned to deliver live and linear Ultra HD to cable networks, SES said. It joins three UHD demo channels available across Europe. SES initiated the new UHD demo channel in response to cable operator demand after its demonstration of the first live and linear Ultra HD broadcasts to cable systems at the NAB and INTX conferences this spring (see 1504130001). The Ultra HD broadcasts were enabled by SES’s Ultra-HD-ready linear content delivery network, which is used to transmit the UHD demo channel, SES said. The camera-to-screen ecosystem uses the multicasting capability of DOCSIS 3.0, used by most cable systems, it said. “Cable operators and content distributors can now begin to prepare their systems and test their networks for Ultra HD delivery, leading into major trials this summer,” said SES Vice President-Business Development, North America Steve Corda. The channel is expected to reach subscribers’ homes later this year.

Adtran and Hughes Network Systems still agree that eligibility for the FCC Connect America Fund Phase II broadband subsidy should be technology neutral, and continue to differ hugely on what eligibility should then mean. In an ex parte presentation posted Friday in docket 10-90, Adtran said Hughes' proposed specifications for the latency tests set the bar far too low. Hughes' proposal R-Factor of 52 -- R-Factor being a measure of VoIP call quality -- set the guideline at a quality level "as being ‘nearly all users dissatisfied’ under the ITU standards," Adtran said. It then reiterated its case made before for an R-Factor of at least 80 when testing the rural broadband network build-out for its ability to be used for such purposes as VoIP (see 1505290037). Hughes earlier this month had said 52 would open up competition to the widest array of technologies (see 1506030014).

ViaSat bought Engreen, a network virtualization company. Financial details weren't available. With Engreen, ViaSat will be better able to build and manage broadband-related services, ViaSat said in a Thursday news release.

The FCC -- like Groundhog Day weatherman Phil Connors -- is stuck in a never-ending time loop as it yearly has to put out pointless status reports on the privatization status of Inmarsat and Intelsat, though those two former intergovernmental satellite organizations long have been privatized, Commissioner Ajit Pai said. The FCC posted its 16th annual Open-Market Reorganization for the Betterment of International Telecommunications (ORBIT) Act report to Congress Wednesday. The report was unanimously approved by commissioners, with Pai issuing a separate statement. Over the past year, the agency noted that Inmarsat launched a pair of Inmarsat-5 satellites as it expands its Global Xpress system operating in the Ka-band, though a third set to launch last month has been delayed. Meanwhile, Intelsat signed operational agreements with numerous satellite operators licensed by 15 separate nations and submitted numerous license authorizations and requests to the FCC. Intelsat spin-off New Skies Satellites -- today part of SES -- has five satellites operating on the C- and Ku-bands, and the FCC has given multiple permits to stations to earth stations to communicate with them, the report said. Several past reports have stated that Inmarsat and Intelsat have fully transitioned to privatized operations. "Unfortunately, the FCC's annual ORBIT Act report is our Groundhog Day," Pai said. "A decade ago, we were able to report success -- the privatization was complete. Yet ten years, ten reports and more than 200 pages later, the FCC is still stuck in Punxsutawney." The House passed the FCC Consolidated Reporting Act in February, and similar legislation now in the Senate would eliminate the ORBIT Act report, Pai said.

A Hawaiian Airlines-operated Boeing jet is the first commercial aircraft using Inmarsat's SwiftBroadband Safety offering, which provides transmission of data and messages to and from air traffic management and air navigation service providers to flights, and IP connectivity to the cockpit, Inmarsat said. SwiftBroadband is expected to be commercially available starting early next year.

SES is rolling out a video content management service, FluidMedia, aimed at video producers and distributors. FluidMedia is being unveiled at ANGA COM 2015, continuing through Thursday in Cologne, Germany, and allows for control of ingestion, transcoding, quality checks and delivery to the Internet or VOD platforms, as well as the management and customization of metadata such as licensing information or trailers, SES said in a Monday release.

Sirius XM, which is defending itself in multiple class-action lawsuits about how it calls customers, took its complaints on interpretation of the 1991 Telephone Consumer Protection Act to the FCC, said an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 02-278. The meeting followed a filing last month in which Sirius laid out its objections to how the FCC has implemented the automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS) sections of that law. The FCC is expected to clarify the definition of an ATDS later this year (see 1505210034). Such a clarification to include a preview dialer -- which presents information about a customer to an agent who then dials by manually using a mouse to click the number on a screen -- as an ATDS should include language protecting those who up until now have used preview dialers in compliance with FCC rules and the Consumer Protection Act, the satellite company said.

More consumers will get AT&T's GigaPower wireline broadband -- and without any public subsidies from the Connect America Fund -- if AT&T's DirecTV merger is allowed to go through, executives of both companies told FCC officials, according to an ex parte filing posted Monday in docket 14-90. AT&T's GigaPower service will extend to an additional 2 million locations within four years of the close of the deal, and AT&T periodically will give updates to the FCC on the status of that broadband rollout that show that work is being done without CAF money, company officials said. AT&T also continues to stand by its plan to offer a 6 Mbps stand-alone broadband service for three years after closing, company officials said. That's slower than the FCC-set benchmark speed 25 Mbps that some opponents of the deal had tried to set as a condition for the merger, but 6 Mbps "would be more widely available than a service of higher speeds," the company said. AT&T also attempted to rebut arguments about another proposed condition setting up how it would market that stand-alone broadband service -- a requirement that "would only prevent AT&T from adapting to market conditions and making the sales experience as efficient and responsive to customer needs as it can," it said.

Intelsat is launching its Flex service that will tie its terrestrial Intelsat One broadband network and its forthcoming Epic satellite constellation together to provide broadband service for airline passengers. The first of the Epic satellites is expected to launch in early 2016, it said. Flex will become available as that satellite fleet becomes operational, the company said.