A bunch of Echostar / FCC action

[Scott Greczkowski]

Lots of moves up in space.

TVTechnology: Satellite Update - June 22, 2012

 

[KE4EST]

I'd say.

 

[nelson61]

Moving e3 and e15 out of the way so the new spotbeam, sat e16, can occupy the prime position at 61.5w.

 

[Stargazer]

Years ago when they kept 61.5 I wondered if it would ever hit prime time like it is today, especially with as good of a line of site it has here. I figured they would have went 61.5 eastern market and 148 western market (if the west coast has just as good of a view angle of 148 as 61.5 does in the east). Since then we have HD and locals with a requirement of more than one orbital location.

 

[nelson61]

Echostar's request for channel consolidation at 61.5W has been granted.
They now are licensed for channels 3-32 with special temporary authority to use channels 1 and 2.

Previously, the special authority channels were in the middle of the spectrum. Moving them to an end will reduce interference if and when channels 1 and 2 are licensed to another entity (probably never happen).
The 2 special authority channels are orphen channels that were left unlicensed after the FCC lost a licensing lawsuit years ago. The result was FCC froze all new DBS licenses while preparing new bidding regulations
The 148W licenses recently revoked will fall under the same freeze order.

EchoStar Satellite Operating Corporation | FCC.gov

 

[TheKrell]

I don't understand what Echostar gets out of this swap, other than the hypothetical interference issue which as you noted will probably never happen. Is there something fishy going on with E12 that makes such a swap useful?

 

[digiblur]

I don't understand what Echostar gets out of this swap, other than the hypothetical interference issue which as you noted will probably never happen. Is there something fishy going on with E12 that makes such a swap useful?

Interference issues if the 2 channels can't be used by echostar. They would only have one transponder adjacent to the channels.

 

[mike123abc]

I don't understand what Echostar gets out of this swap, other than the hypothetical interference issue which as you noted will probably never happen. Is there something fishy going on with E12 that makes such a swap useful?

It mainly deals with spot beams. They can be very strong in some areas of the spot and can cause possible interference with adjacent transponders. It can go outside the limit for DBS regulations. Now, Dish can ask for a waiver easier since they can claim that they will be only interfering with themselves and their equipment can handle it. Instead of a hypothetical future owner of the slots always causing them to have to be careful around the old frequencies.

 

[nelson61]

Interference issues if the 2 channels can't be used by echostar. They would only have one transponder adjacent to the channels.

Correct. At a minimum, it reduces potential future problems by 50 percent. Everybody wins on this move.

 

[whitewolf8214]

ty Scott very interesting and wonder what both of them are up too!!

 

[whitewolf8214]

Correct. At a minimum, it reduces potential future problems by 50 percent. Everybody wins on this move.

+1