Satellite

The Federal Communications Commission will hold an Open Meeting on the subjects listed below on Wednesday, Sept 26, 2018:

Sara Spangelo is the CEO of a young start-up called Swarm Technologies. Swarm had secured a spot on an Indian rocket for its product: a set of four small satellites nicknamed Spacebees. The Spacebees are prototypes for Swarm’s ambitious plan to provide internet access to areas without it.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced that the following items are tentatively on the agenda for the September Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Wednesday, September 26, 2018:

A survey from Consumer Reports finds that only 38 percent of those with paid TV subscriptions with cable or satellite providers said they were very or completely satisfied with their service. Consumer Reports said most of the larger cable companies ended up in the bottom half of the 25 companies on the ratings list. Google Fiber broke away from the pack on the TV front, though, receiving top marks in areas like technical support, customer service and equipment ease of use.

The financial challenges YouTube TV and other “virtual cable” providers face is a good illustration of some points we’ve been making at Public Knowledge for a while. "These streaming services have yet to figure out how to make money. In fact, the more people they sign up, the more money they lose. That’s because the services are paying more for programming than what they’re charging consumers.” Why is this? Basically, the incentives of large content providers and big cable make offering viewers more choice very difficult.

A host of companies believe, rather than fiber optic cables, the better way to connect the estimated half of Earth’s population that’s still offline is to launch “constellations” of smaller satellites into low Earth orbit, around 100 to 1,250 miles above our planet. Facebook is officially one of them.  Emails between the company and the Federal Communications Commission show that Facebook wants to launch Athena, its very own internet satellite, in early 2019.

The Federal Communications Commission adopted an Order and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking which identifies new opportunities for flexible use in up to 500 megahertz of mid-band spectrum between 3.7 and 4.2 GHz. The proposals set forth several steps toward making more mid-band spectrum available for terrestrial fixed and mobile broadband use.

Comcast moved quickly to counter 21st Century Fox’s latest bid for Sky, raising its offer to $34 billion on the same day that Fox upped its buyout bid for the European satellite TV provider. Comcast said its higher bid has been recommended by Sky’s committee of independent directors evaluating the swirl of bidding for the satcaster. Earlier July 11, the same committee recommended Fox’s higher bid but reversed course after receiving the outline of Comcast’s higher offer.

Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox has agreed to new terms to acquire Sky, the pan-European TV group, in a deal worth £24.5 billion that is designed to see off a rival offer from US media giant Comcast.

The Federal Communications Commission took steps to make additional high-band spectrum available for advanced wireless services. These actions are building blocks of the nation’s 5G future and critical to continued US wireless leadership. Pushing more spectrum into the marketplace for the next generation of wireless connectivity will contribute to economic growth, job creation, public safety, and our nation’s global competitiveness.