I also see a reference that the new channels are all expected on March 1. I am not that confident of that. They have said March...Not the 1st or March....not the Ides of March or even St. Patricks day. But March. Lots going on so let's not crowd or crown them to much at this time. Just give VOOM and Tommy some breathing room. Remember Tom went ahead and spent more on advertising after the January 20th board meeting to go against his older brother. Cane and Able this is not but a business version?....It appears so. Still would hope that the moderators would be able to get Tom, Chuck or other of the surviving management team on a chat.
would the FCC consider a petition?
- Thread starter danielle_s
- Start date
- Latest activity Latest activity:
- Replies 34
- Views 3K
If the sale of VOOM goes through tomorrow to Dolan group (I expect that it will) they will probably immediately move to R-2. R-1 is not part of the sale, and when VOOM separates from CVC they will be in a position of not owning R-1 any more and leasing space on R-1 from CVC. I suspect that CVC will let them "lease" space on R-1 at a very good rate while they transition over to R-2. They will have to have all thier customers moved to R-2 before the FCC review of R-1 transfer is complete.
Based on the non redacted parts of the sales contract, they need to do the tests now, and keep E* updated on all statistics and anomolies.MarcelV said:
JL
MarcelV said:
Well then I must have completely misunderstood your earlier post. Its eemed to say that you think that R1 will be included in the sale to Doaln. All I said was that tehre was no eveidence of that.
AS for an IMMEDIATE move to R2 well anything is possible but won't you all be atad upset if you cant receive the programming? I would think that a phase in of some time is more likely. But I do't know.
If they sign a contract February 28 at 2pm (Which is doubtful), don't expect at 2:01 that they will move to R2. It still amazes me that everyone expects business to be like jello instant pudding . 5 minutes and it's done. Really now!
In order to test the spotbeams they need to turn off the conus beam on that transponder number. In order to turn off the conus beam, they need to move the content elsewhere. (And E* probably wants to test conus with other than live content anyways.)MarcelV said:
The test TP will rotate through all 13 transponders R1 is capable of using. After the tests are over the TP should be available for Voom expansion use.
Doubtful? Doubtful that they will sign at 2pm, that they will sign on Monday or that they will sign at all?gutter said:
While the flip to R2 will not be "instant" it will be quick. Transponders will be populated on AMC-6 and at some point a "dish upgrade" program will start.
JL
gutter said:
It will probably will not take much time at all. After all they sold R-1 and they have known about it for a while, so they are probably ready to simulcast to R-2. Of course even if they approve the sale at 2pm it probably would not take effect until midnight on a date in the future. Of course knowing CVC they would probably want 12:01 am 3/1/05 for the transfer to occur, but probably they will need more time than that. I bet the date is before 3/31/05 since they will not want VOOM losses to spill into another quarter.
1. I expect them to set a date for the transfer of the VOOM assets to Dolan group to occur.
2. VOOM to start simulcasting on R-2 (probably will not take very long after the deal is signed). I suspect that CVC will allow VOOM "free" use of R-1 during the transition as part of the sale of the remaining VOOM assets.
3. The army of installers to give everyone a new dish pointing at R-2 is dispatched.
4. The complete switchover to occur before the FCC gives approval of the sale so that CVC can demonstrate via testing to Echostar that R-1 works as expected.
5. The FCC rules on the transfers. No matter which way they rule VOOM no longer transmits on R-1 (they never owned it since CVC owns the satellite and it was not part of the sale to Dolan).
The STAs for those two transponders are part of the sale. In the FCC filing the STAs for those two frequencies would be transfered to Echostar.
Your thinking is sort of like mine. As the only Eastern side slot space must be reserved for a 3rd DBS provider since none of the Western slots can be viewed from the East. I can see if someone just wants a Western slot to provide DBS services to the territories as an Eastern one wouldn't be needed, but there is only 1 Eastern slot. The FCC never wanted all the DBS frequencies owned by a couple companies and envisioned many satellite owners like we have in C-Band and KU-FSS. I think the FCC was a little disapointed that none of the DBS licensees have opted to be common carriers.
I think the FCC should deny the transfer of frequencies to Echostar as this would be permanent. However, if Rainbow wants to lease the frequencies to Echostar for a few years while it finds a more suitable buyer that would be ok. Or if Rainbow doesn't want the licenses then the FCC should let E* have an STA for the frequencies until they are auctioned and used by another provider, which is what E* had before.
It could be that the company that wants to create a new slot at 105w would be interested in purchasing the frequencies at 61.5, but isn't interested in the R-1 sat and it's capabilities. I have to wonder if Rainbow looked for any other buyers other than E*. I can't remember that company's name off hand, but they want to be a common carrier on DBS, unlike the current frequency owners. They would provide the infrastructure, receivers, activations, etc... but others would lease TPs and provide packaging (just like we currently have with KU-FSS).
Pleading Cycle Established
source: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-05-501A1.pdf
source: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-05-501A1.pdf
bryan27 said:
The new DBS slot would be at 105.5 W, 4.5 degrees between the DBS slot at 101 W and 110 W. The company that has applied to the FCC for this 105.5 W slot is none other than SES Americom, owner of AMC-6 or Rainbow-2. It is also been fairly well established that SES Americom already has an agreement in place with Echostar (Dish) to lease them the satellite at the 105.5 W DBS slot if approved by the FCC. Realize also that Dish is leasing the 105 W Ku band slot from SES Americom with the AMC-2 satellite that should be replaced by the much more powerful AMC-15 that is already on orbit and being tested at 117 W. Dish is also leasing the 85 W Ku band slot from SES Americom and AMC-16 is already on orbit being tested as well.
The other 4.5 degree DBS slot that is being considered is 114.5 W, half way between 110 W and 119 W. Dish has applied and had rejected their application to the FCC for this slot a year or so back. Another company Spectrum Five which I believe is part of General Dynamics has also recently applied and had reject by the FCC their application for the 114.5 W DBS slot.
A few things have or will be changing since the FCC ruling on the two unassigned frequencies at 61.5 W. First, Cablevision/Rainbow DBS obviously could not make Voom work from a financial standpoint and that is the major point of the Rainbow DBS/Echostar argument in the application for frequency transfer. The second point is that there has been and will be significant changes in personnel at the FCC since the ruling on the two unassigned frequencies. This includes the FCC Chairman, Michael Powell who should be gone before the ruling on the frequency is made. I also believe that the FCC did not want to appear to show favoritism to either Rainbow DBS or Echostar related to this unassigned frequencies but let Rainbow DBS use them temporarily until they could get established. The FCC was going to put these two frequencies up for auction with the stipulation that Rainbow, Dish or DirecTV could not bid on them to demonstrate their dedication to competition with the belief that no other company would bid on them. At that point, they would let the three companies either bid on them and/or split the two between Rainbow and Dish.
The FCC envisioned carriers getting matched transponders. Have 8 transponders east? Get 8 transponders west. That would have given even coverage for east and west. The problem came when it was discovered (noticed?) that three of the eastern positions were good enough to cover the entire US. Most of the original assignees defaulted on their western assignments to concentrate on building and buying more eastern assignments and left the FCC with a problem. What to do with western positions that in today's marketplace no longer can be matched in the east. Their solution: auction the western slots. Unfortunately that didn't attract any new entrants and, technically, left TP23 and TP24 on 61.5 as the only free DBS slots. Any new entrant (fifth DBS provider) would have trouble reaching the west coast and NOT be able to provide service at all via DBS to Alaska and Hawaii.bryan27 said:
The FCC's witholding of TP23 and TP24 from Rainbow and Echostar did NOTHING to encourage or permit a fifth DBS carrier to enter the market. It was a good decision not to award the channels both to V* or both to E* but with the near total lack of interest for US slots from new entrants it would have been better if they just split the difference - TP23 to V* and TP24 to E*. Only E* bid on 157. Only V* bid on 166 and 175. Where is "the next" DBS provider?
Those two transponders belong to the FCC and they can withold them until the federal courts step in. RainbowDBS' licenses are being transferred within the law and within the FCC rules. If the FCC decides to interfere with the legal transfer of licenses on a whim (gee, we wish there were another provider) would find the ruling appealed, in court and reversed.
JL
