AT&T signed an agreement with Host Hotels & Resorts and hospitality industry technology firm GuestTek to bring DirecTV programming to Host-owned Marriott hotels, the telco said Wednesday. The added in-room entertainment is happening now through Q2, the company said. AT&T has been pushing DirecTV services in a variety of ways since completing its buy of the direct broadcast satellite company this summer (see 1508030030).
Don't expect to see many mergers or acquisitions in the satellite industry despite the benefits of such consolidation, Intelsat Chief Financial Officer Michael McDonnell said Tuesday at a Deutsche Bank's investor conference. The few such M&A transactions in the industry -- such as Eutelsat's 2014 takeover of SatMex -- sometimes come with high price tags, and many smaller operators' governments aren't as interested in consolidation as their owners, McDonnell said. He declined to address directly what he called rumors of Intelsat considering a sale of some assets, except to say its satellite fleet is designed so most of them carry a variety of customer sets and they are supported by a common platform. "We don't really have any assets we consider to be non-core," McDonnell said. While the company's network services revenue has been declining in recent years, its high-throughput Epic satellite platform going online next year opens the door to expansion into markets such as connected cars and IoT and "is our path back to growth," McDonnell said. The company has four launches planned for 2016 -- Intelsat 31 and 29e in Q1 and 33e and 36 in the second half of the year -- and most of its satellites planned in coming years are Epics, he said.
Looking to increase service to airline passengers over the Caribbean, North America and the Pacific, Row 44 seeks FCC International Bureau approval to modify its existing Ku-band Earth Stations Aboard Aircraft license to add a satellite -- AMC-1 at 129.15 degrees west -- as a point of communication. In its IB application filed Monday, the in-flight broadband and entertainment provider said it expects to start service on AMC-1 as soon as possible. SES, which operates AMC-1, hasn't signed a coordination agreement with SkyPerfect JSAT for that company's Horizons-1 -- the only other Ku-band fixed satellite service satellite operating in the same bands, Row 44 said. In a separate IB application filed Monday, Row 44 asked for temporary authority to start service on AMC-1 using up to 100 earth stations while the license modification is pending.
ViaSat received its first Federal Aviation Administration supplemental type certificate (STC) for its in-cabin distribution system, it said Monday. It's the first of two STCs the company said it expects to receive for in-flight entertainment and connectivity, with the second expected in Q1 for its hybrid Ku/Ka-band antenna system. ViaSat's in-cabin distribution system -- deployed on Virgin America -- ties its antenna system to the in-flight entertainment system, providing Internet connectivity to passenger devices and distribution of broadcast TV over satellite to the onboard seatback display. The company also said Monday it has begun licensing its digital signal processing and forward error correction cores for 100G optical transport.
Globalstar's recent terrestrial low-power service (TLPS) test deployment results have gaping holes, as the company still hasn't made any data available on how TLPS effects Bluetooth and Bluetooth Low Energy devices, and the methodology used in that test deployment "raises a series of basic questions," Gerst Capital said in an FCC filing posted Wednesday in docket 13-213. Globalstar in its test results (see 1509110018) "dramatically overstates" the increased Wi-Fi capacity that comes with TLPS "by ignoring the ... 5GHz channels freely available today," Gerst said. Controlled testing of TLPS alongside Wi-Fi channel 11 shows interference, Gerst said, and previous Globalstar testing actually removed coexistence filters and also was not configured at maximum power -- which would have resulted in notably higher Bluetooth and Channel 11 interference. The FCC should either terminate the proceeding or -- if it still needs further analysis or test data -- put out updated guidance so interested parties can focus on providing that information, Gerst said. It said that Greg Gerst, principal at the hedge fund and a frequent TLPS plan critic (see 1503190025), met with legal advisors for commissioners Mignon Clyburn, Michael O'Rielly, Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel. Globalstar has dismissed Gerst criticisms in the past as coming from a shortseller trying to create doubt. In its own ex parte filing posted Tuesday, Globalstar said it met with those same legal advisors to go over those TLPS test results and urged the FCC to adopt the 2013 proposed rules that would allow TLPS deployment "without further delay." Another Globalstar TLPS critic, the Wireless Communications Association, has also said the TLPS deployment test didn't end interference worries and questions (see 1509210041).
Dish Network added an online appointment tool, My Tech, giving customers information about Dish technicians on the way to their homes, including the person's name, picture and current location. Dish said Tuesday that My Tech is available on mydish.com to all Dish customers with a scheduled service appointment, and includes a real-time countdown for the technician's arrival.
The space launch company founded by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is setting up launch operations and a production facility for its reusable orbital launchers in Cape Canaveral, Florida, Bezos said in a blog Tuesday for that firm, Blue Origin. Launches should begin "later this decade," Bezos said.
Correction: Deere attorney Kenneth Schacter of Morgan Lewis said in court that a pact between the agriculture company and LightSquared is not imminent (see 1509090013).
AT&T hired Ericsson to help upgrade its premium TV offering across its satellite and wireline network, said Ericsson in a news release Thursday. The technology changes will involve AT&T's U-verse and DirecTV platforms, Ericsson said. Enrique Rodriguez, AT&T Entertainment and Internet Services chief technical officer, said the aim is "an unparalleled bundled video entertainment, mobile and broadband experience."
Dish Network is adding a variety of age-appropriate ratings and reviews to its Dish Anywhere platform, the company said in a Thursday news release. The features -- such as age-based ratings provided by the nonprofit Common Sense Media and available in the new Parental Guide page inside a program’s profile -- will be added to the Dish Anywhere mobile apps and the Hopper DVR, Dish said.