DBS operators are a step closer to paying their own multichannel video programming distributor regulatory fees now that a DBS regulatory fee category was created. The FCC in a final rule published in Tuesday's Federal Register said it created the DBS fee category for FY 2015. The proposed fee amount is 12 cents per customer per year, though the amount hasn't been finalized and satellite operators and the cable industry have been arguing over whether higher fees are warranted (see 1507080013). Higher fees seem to be in the FCC's plans, as it said in the Federal Register that due to concerns about "rate shock" to customers, "We have decided to phase in the DBS fee." The final rule also eliminates two categories of regulatory fees, amateur radio vanity call signs and general mobile radio services; sets up a requirement that the FCC Office of the Managing Director work with SMS/800 to ensure the distributors of 800-numbers have information on how to pay the regulatory fees instituted in the FY 2014 proceedings; and specifies that any debt owed the agency that is 120 days or more delinquent will be transferred to the Treasury Department for collection, instead of the previous 180-day wait before transfer.

Hughes Network Systems rolled out services and hardware aimed at the K-16 education market, including high-speed satellite Internet access for rural and remote schools and managed Wi-Fi for guest access, campus broadband, distance learning and digital signage, the satellite company said in a Tuesday news release. Some of its offerings are eligible for government funding through the E-rate USF program, Hughes said.

LightSquared faces no opposition to its request for regulatory approval to emerge from bankruptcy and the transfer of its licenses and authorizations to its reorganized self, as the final deadline for comments in docket 15-126 passed Monday with nothing filed. Given that "lack of any opposition" to its Chapter 11 bankruptcy plans, the FCC should give final approval as soon as the Justice Department has completed its customary national security, public safety and law enforcement review, the company said in a filing earlier this month. Aside from a Justice Department filing earlier this month asking the FCC to delay any approval pending that review, the only other comment filed in the case was from NAB, on foreign ownership, which took no position on the LightSquared matter (see 1507060031).

The Intelsat 34 satellite is expected to launch Aug. 18, the satellite company said in a series of requests for special temporary authority filed Friday with the FCC International Bureau. Intelsat 34 will provide broadband and communications services to western hemisphere customers. The company hopes to use its Fillmore, California; Hagerstown, Maryland; and Riverside, California, earth stations to provide launch and early orbit phase services to the satellite for roughly 10 days. Intelsat expects to send up its next satellite, Intelsat 31, in the first quarter of 2016.

Real-time, high-definition video can transmit through helicopter blades with no signal disruption, Hughes Network Systems said Monday, announcing a demonstration of the beyond-line-sight technology by its Defense and Intelligence Systems Division. The test involved Ka-band transmissions between the Inmarsat-5 F2 satellite and a NorthStar Aviation Bell 407 helicopter, and points to more use of satellite communications-enabled helicopters operating in areas where line-of-sight communications don't work, Hughes said.

Mobil Satellite Technologies unveiled its RVDataSat840 automatic satellite antenna system and Insta-Sat on-demand consumer broadband satellite Internet service, the company said in a Friday news release. The Insta-Sat service was designed to support the RVDataSat840, which is aimed at the RV market, it said.

The Department of Defense needs more information if it wants better procurement processes, said a 31-page GAO report released Friday. DOD’s “procurement of commercial satellite communications (SATCOM), or bandwidth, is fragmented and inefficient,” the report said. “DOD policy requires all of its components to procure commercial SATCOM through the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), but GAO found that some components are independently procuring SATCOM to meet their individual needs.” DOD concurred with the GAO recommendations that DOD “enforce current policy requiring DISA to acquire all commercial SATCOM” and “conduct a spend analysis identifying procurement inefficiencies and opportunities.” GAO directed the report to the bipartisan leaders of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

EchoStar's Sling Media unveiled its Slingbox M2 service, a set-top box and app combination that allows for streaming of live and recorded home TV content on an unlimited number of mobile devices. Slingbox M2 also lets subscribers of such over-the-top services as Apple TV, Chromecast and Roku move content from mobile devices to any Internet-connected TV anywhere, Sling said in a Thursday news release. The Slingbox M2 costs $200.

LightSquared expects to start testing for interference between its broadband uplink and downlink signals and neighboring spectrum GPS signals by the end of the month, the satellite company said in a filing posted Thursday in FCC docket 12-340. The filing includes an 18-page test plan summary spelling out the devices to be tested -- ranging from iPhone and Galaxy phones to numerous location and navigation devices -- conditions to be tested for and minimal requirements for what LightSquared said would be nominal accuracy. The company is hoping results of the study can lead to settling a legal fight with a number of GPS manufacturers over interference worries (see 1507010018).

Iridium finished testing its compact antenna test range for its Next satellites, it said in a Wednesday news release. The testing marks the first time that a full Iridium Next payload has been powered on in both the L-band and Ka-band and is a major milestone in ensuring satellite functionality in advance of the Next network of 66 satellites being launched, Iridium said. The first satellites in the global broadband network are expected to go up later this year.