Tim Warren

A federal court issued a $51 million judgment against Robert Ward for supplying software files allowing nonsubscribers to receive Dish Network programming, the company said Monday. A U.S. district judge in Tampa said Ward violated the federal Communications Act and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Dish accused him of uploading software and keys to its security system, which can be loaded onto the circuit chips of free-to-air receivers, mimicking Dish access cards and allowing users to watch the programming without paying. The court said Ward provided 255,471 software piracy files. There’s a minimum statutory penalty of $200 per download.

The National Governors Association (NGA) the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), the Multistate Tax Commission and more than a dozen states threw their weight behind a satellite TV sales tax Monday that’s before the Ohio Supreme Court. The fight is over an Ohio tax requiring satellite subscribers to pay a tax equal to 5.5 percent of their service revenue, while cable customers pay nothing. The cable companies and state organizations say the tax is a near equivalent of the franchise fees required of cable providers. Comcast, Cox Communications, and Time Warner Cable also filed a brief with the court supporting the tax. Oral argument hasn’t been scheduled.

As the FCC assesses spectrum issues, mobile satellite services (MSS) providers using the 2 GHz band have faced attack from wireless companies that say development in the band has been too slow. MSS providers say they've felt more pressure from their wireless competitors than from the commission, and there’s no formal review of their use of the spectrum.

Global connectivity will be an economic motor and should be a major goal of the National Broadband plan, Diane Cornell, Inmarsat’s vice president of government affairs, said at an FCC workshop Thursday on using broadband to connect the U.S. with the rest of the world. Satellite technology can already provide the connections with a single interface, allowing users everywhere in the world the same experience. True global connectivity is impeded by spectrum coordination from country to country, a time-consuming and expensive process, she said. Steady regulatory environments around the world can promote the use of satellite technology for many applications, she said.

The Senate Commerce Committee quickly approved satellite reauthorization legislation (S-2764) Thursday. The bill calls for a study of satellite-TV providers’ financial and satellite capacity limitations. The Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act also includes language that moves up when Dish Network must carry public TV in HD, mirroring legislation that the House Commerce Committee passed in October (CD Oct 16 p3). The satellite legislation and four unrelated bills, including the Local Community Radio Act, were unanimously approved together without discussion.

The Satellite Industry Association was critical of suggestions by the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association and others that it said would “harm current and future satellite operations,” in comments filed Friday with the FCC. The comments were made in response to the commission’s public notice on broadband spectrum allocation. WISPA suggested limits on earth station operations.

Dish Network’s Q3 profit fell by 12 percent from the same quarter last year to $81 million, it said Monday. Its revenue fell 1.5 percent from Q3 2008 to $2.89 billion. But Dish net subscribers grew by 241,000 during the quarter, to 13.85 million.

Satellite video continues to be in high demand despite economic declines around the world, earnings from satellite video providers and operators showed Thursday.

Despite a company-record net increase of 17,000 satellite broadband subscriptions, Hughes Communications reported revenue of $251.4 million in Q3 this year, down 7.5 percent from the same period last year. A 32 percent revenue decrease at the telecom systems division was a major reason for the overall revenue decline, the company said. The company had net income of $15.6 million in the quarter, down from $18.4 million a year earlier.

The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is expected to cut provisions for an ITAR revamp from a foreign relations bill that passed the House this year, industry executives said. The language on International Traffic in Arms Regulations could be reattached in reconciling the bill with the House version or taken up as a separate bill, said a lobbyist working on the issue. Many in the space industry say ITAR, which restricts the movements and sales of satellites, has caused a decrease in market-share for U.S. satellite and component makers.