Spectrum Five LLC v. Federal Communications Commission

758 F.3d 254, 411 U.S. App. D.C. 63, 2014 WL 3398509, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 13157
CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
DecidedJuly 11, 2014
Docket13-1231, 13-1232
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 758 F.3d 254 (Spectrum Five LLC v. Federal Communications Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Spectrum Five LLC v. Federal Communications Commission, 758 F.3d 254, 411 U.S. App. D.C. 63, 2014 WL 3398509, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 13157 (D.C. Cir. 2014).

Opinion

Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge WILKINS.

WILKINS, Circuit Judge:

Cable television has for many years been the primary way consumers receive video programming. A growing competitor of cable television is satellite service. See Comcast Corp. v. FCC, 579 F.3d 1, 3, 8 (D.C.Cir.2009). The demand for orbital space and radio spectrum is great in the increasingly competitive satellite service industry. Securing rights to operate a satellite at an orbital location is, therefore, extremely valuable. And even more valuable is the right to operate a satellite while requiring that other satellite operators at nearby orbital locations not interfere with your operations. The coordination of these rights and the allocation of radio spectrum amongst many nations are handled primarily by the International Telecommunication Union (“ITU”).

This petition involves Bermuda’s efforts to secure rights from the ITU to operate a satellite at the 96.2° W.L. orbital location. 1 As required by the ITU’s regulations, to obtain such rights Bermuda needed to deploy and maintain a satellite at this orbital location. Bermuda did so by partnering with Intervenor EchoStar Satellite Operating Corporation (“EchoStar”), and EchoS-tar then requested special temporary authority from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission) to move a satellite from its then-current location at 76.8° W.L. to the desired 96.2° W.L. orbital location.

The Netherlands, meanwhile, also sought rights from the ITU to operate a satellite at the nearby 95.15° W.L. orbital location. But if Bermuda secured its rights before the Netherlands, then Bermuda — through the ITU — could require that the Netherlands (and any other country with subordinate rights) not interfere with any of its satellite operations. Thus, *256 petitioner Spectrum Five LLC (“Spectrum Five”) — a developer and operator of satellites working in partnership with the Netherlands — filed an objection with the FCC to EchoStar’s request to move its satellite from 76.8° W.L. to 96.2° W.L. However, the Commission granted EchoStar’s request, and thereafter the ITU determined that Bermuda secured rights to the 96.2° W.L. orbital location.

Spectrum Five petitions for review of the Commission’s order, arguing principally that the Commission acted arbitrarily and capriciously because it incorrectly concluded, in Spectrum Five’s view, that there were extraordinary circumstances justifying the Commission’s decision to grant EchoStar’s request. Because Spectrum Five has failed to demonstrate a significant likelihood that a decision of this Court would redress its alleged injury, we dismiss its petition for lack of Article III standing.

I.

A.

To provide context for Spectrum Five’s petition, we begin with an overview of broadcast satellites, which are regulated both domestically and internationally. The FCC regulates satellite service for signals transmitted or received within the United States. One of these services is direct broadcast satellite (“DBS”). Although DBS is a term used informally to refer to satellite television broadcasts intended for home reception, 2 under FCC regulations DBS specifically refers to a “radiocommunication service in which signals transmitted or retransmitted by ... space stations in the 12.2-12.7 GHz frequency band are intended for direct reception by subscribers or the general public.” See 47 C.F.R. §§ 2.1, 25.201. DBS providers include companies such as Dish Network and DIRECTV, LLC (“DIRECTV”). New entry of additional DBS providers is precluded by a freeze on DBS applications that the FCC instituted in 2005, following our prior invalidation of the FCC’s DBS license auction procedures. See Northpoint Technology, Ltd. v. FCC, 412 F.3d 145 (D.C.Cir.2005).

In addition to domestic regulation by the FCC, the use of DBS satellites is subject to an international, treaty-based regulatory framework administrated by the ITU, a specialized agency of the United Nations. This treaty sets forth regional plans that apportion the United States and other ITU member nations (referred to as “administrations”) spectrum and orbital locations for DBS service. 3 The United States falls within the ITU’s Region 2 “Broadcasting-satellite service (BSS)” 4 Plan (or “the Plan”), Northpoint, 412 F.3d at 148, and has been assigned DBS frequencies at eight orbital locations, 5 see DIRECTV, Inc. v. FCC, 110 F.3d 816, 821 (D.C.Cir.1997).

Assignments under the Plan are not set in stone, however; administrations may modify the Plan by filing a request with the ITU. ITU Radio RegsApp. 30, Art. 4.2 (2012). An administration must satisfy two conditions to modify the Plan. First, *257 the filing administration has eight years to “br[ing] into use” the requested assignment. Id. App. 30, Art. 4.2.6. This requires, among other things, deploying and maintaining at the requested orbital location a satellite capable of providing service in the relevant frequencies for at least ninety consecutive days. Id., Art. 11.44B. Second, the filing administration must also reach agreement with “affected administrations.” Id. App. 30, Art. 4.2.3. Affected administrations are nations that have already received assignments from the ITU to operate in the same radiofrequency bands at nearby orbital locations, or that have pending modification requests to operate in the same radiofrequency bands at nearby locations.

If the filing administration satisfies both conditions — and thus perfects its filing— then the ITU will enter the orbital slot assignment in the ITU Master International Frequency Register. Id. App. 30, Art. 4.2. 19. Perfecting a filing is significant because satellites operating pursuant to that filing have priority over subsequent filings, thus entitling the satellite operation to “interference protection” from satellites operating pursuant to subordinate filings. If the filing is not brought into use in eight years, however, then it lapses, meaning the ITU will suppress the filing and remove the frequency assignments from its databases. Id. App. 30, Art. 4.1.3.

This dual regulatory scheme often requires parties to comply both with ITU regulations and the relevant domestic laws. For example, say a party sought to deploy a satellite to the 101° W.L. orbital location. Pursuant to ITU regulations, that party must, among other requirements, obtain authorization from the administration with rights to the 101° W.L. orbital location, see id., Art. 18.1, which is the United States. In addition, if the party wanted to provide DBS service to the United States, it must obtain a license from the FCC. See 47 C.F.R. § 25.102(a).

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758 F.3d 254, 411 U.S. App. D.C. 63, 2014 WL 3398509, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 13157, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/spectrum-five-llc-v-federal-communications-commission-cadc-2014.