While waiting for authorization to operate 6,000 Ku-band broadband service vehicle- and vessel-mounted flat-panel earth stations (see 1702240014), Kymeta wants to start limited commercial trials this spring and summer. An FCC International Bureau application Monday sought special temporary authority for 60 days starting May 15 to operate up to 15 of its vehicle-mounted KyWay1 terminals and up to another five on watercraft. The company has talked about the antennas being targeted at high-throughput connectivity applications including broadband in multiple industries.

The Hearst carriage disruption is evidence "the system is broken," said Dish Network Executive Vice President-Marketing, Programming and Media Sales Warren Schlichting in a video Thursday aimed at Hearst viewers. Dish said Hearst "won't budge" from its March 1 offer that would "double the price of their channels and make Hearst the highest paid local broadcaster on Dish." Dish also said it offered to accept the same contractual terms that ended a Hearst carriage disruption on DirecTV in January (see 1701030046). Thirty Hearst stations were no longer being carried on Dish as of earlier this month (see 1703030011). Earlier this week, Hearst's WBAL-TV Baltimore and other stations said they offered Dish a retransmission consent extension "in hopes of concluding a fair agreement that reflects the current marketplace." TV Freedom said there have been two weeks over the past three months in which Dish didn't see a disruption in carriage, and it has been involved in 58 percent of retrans impasses since January 2015.

Starting March 18, DirecTV wants to begin drifting its SkyB1 satellite from 33 degrees west to its permanent home at 43.15 degrees west. In a request for special temporary authority filed Thursday with the FCC International Bureau, DirecTV said the in-orbit testing of the satellite -- launched last month -- began Wednesday and is expected to run until March 18. It said the drift is expected to take about 10 days. DirecTV said it will begin in-orbit testing of Ka-band frequencies after the satellite relocates due to coordination challenges.

Hearst and Dish Network are blaming each other for suspended retransmission consent renewal talks that resulted in a blackout. In a news release Friday, Dan Joerres, president-general manager of Hearst's WBAL-TV Baltimore, said Dish "has continued to insist on including material terms that are less favorable than our current agreement [and] is seeking the right to carry our stations at below market rates, which is neither fair nor reasonable." Hearst said WBAL and 29 other stations are no longer being carried on Dish. Dish, in a news release, said Hearst "has used the move to gain deal leverage as it seeks above-market rate increases nearly double the current DISH rate, and other unreasonable demands. Hearst has also refused DISH’s offer to match the rates paid by other pay-TV providers." The American Television Alliance said Hearst is responsible for the majority of carriage disruptions this year, with it also part of a AT&T-owned DirecTV disruption on New Year's Day (see 1701030046). It said Hearst is proof "there’s nothing to stop broadcasters from hitting consumers on the nose with more blackouts and higher fees." The group's partners include AT&T and Dish.

AT&T reached tentative agreement with Communications Workers of America in contract talks covering about 280 DirecTV field services employees in Delaware, Maryland, New Mexico and Oregon, AT&T said in a Friday news release. The tentative agreement places employees into an appendix to an existing labor contract, the company said. CWA didn’t comment. Earlier last week, AT&T and the union ratified an agreement for 400 DirecTV technical service center workers in Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota and Tennessee, CWA said Tuesday. Bargaining on other AT&T labor contracts continued. AT&T wireless workers in 36 states have threatened to strike (see 1702090054), as have California and Nevada wireline workers (see 1612190050). An AT&T spokesman said the company resolved a separate dispute with Sacramento-based DirecTV workers who walked off the job after one was terminated (see 1702010027).

With the 8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals having ruled in an interlocutory appeal in a class-action contract breach complaint on Dish Network dropping Turner and Fox programming in 2014, plaintiffs are asking permission to file an amended complaint that includes claims and allegations in conformity with the 8th Circuit's interpretation. In a motion (in Pacer) filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Jefferson City, Missouri, plaintiffs said the 8th Circuit ruling (in Pacer) on the lower court's partial grant and partial denial of a Dish motion to dismiss noted they hadn't stated a claim since Dish not crediting the subscribers isn't by itself a breach of good faith and plaintiffs didn't allege the company dropped the programming in bad faith. Plaintiffs said they wanted to amend the claim to allege Dish dropped Turner and Fox programming in bad faith and/or willfully and wantonly breached its customer form agreement. Examples include evading the spirit of the bargain by failing to obtain Fox and Turner programming for which the class members had selected and paid Dish in advance, Dish dishonesty by failing to let subscribers know about the dropped programming, and continuing to market programming packages that included Turner and Fox after the takedown, the plaintiffs said. Dish didn't comment Friday.

In-orbit testing of EchoStar XIX is done and the Ka-band high-throughput satellite was handed over from maker Space Systems Loral, Hughes said in a news release Wednesday. The satellite was launched Dec. 18 from Cape Canaveral, and the handover starts the final testing phase before commercial launch of the HughesNet Gen5 high-speed satellite internet service, Hughes said. The satellite should begin service by the end of Q1, it said.

Dish Network's civil complaint against the Trinidad operator of websites used to traffic Dish security passcodes can be served by email because the company tried hiring a private investigator, left service with the defendant's sister in Trinidad and tried to call the defendant multiple times on his personal cellphone, U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal of Houston said in an order (in Pacer) Monday. Rosenthal in January ordered that Dish had to file proof of service on the complaint by Feb. 20 or risk dismissal of the case. Filed in November, Dish and co-plaintiffs EchoStar Technologies and NagraStar, both Dish suppliers, said defendant Robert Gittens bought at least 480 separate Internet key sharing (IKS) server passcodes and then resold them repeatedly through www.fladishnet.com, www.lfpsiksdonation.com and www.craftyarts2.com, and Gittens on his Craftyarts2.com consents to U.S. jurisdiction. The companies ask for injunctive relief, an order allowing Dish to take possession and destroy all IKS server passcodes and other piracy software and an order transferring ownership of the three websites to Dish, plus damages. Gittens didn't comment Tuesday.

Dish Network is launching a new customer service effort, Tuned In to You, aimed at what it called in a news release "the low customer satisfaction pervasive throughout the pay-TV industry." Dish said it's "examining every customer touchpoint, across all departments," to improve customer service, with one example being the October launch of its Base Camp employee training program where corporate employees work in the field for a month fielding customer calls and accompanying technicians. The company said it expects to graduate 700 workers from Base Camp by year's end, with all interns and full-time new hires at headquarters taking part within the first two months of employment. The company plans to have all existing corporate employees enroll in the training. Dish said it's launching a new advertising campaign, The Spokeslistener, with TV, radio and online spots (see here and here).

Flat panel antenna (FPA) sales should hit $9.1 billion by 2026, with the market dominated by fixed broadband services from non-geostationary satellites, and revenue growth being driven primarily by aeronautical equipment, said Northern Sky Research Monday in a news release. NSR said antenna prices will remain high due to the technical complexity of FPAs for mobile applications. It said the in-flight connectivity, leisure maritime and land-mobile government markets mean mobile applications will generate more than 92 percent of FPA equipment revenue by 2026. The researcher said most fixed applications will be the delivery of satellite broadband services to more than 2 million lower-priced FPAs, primarily in Asia and the Middle East, by 2026.