Flat panel antenna (FPA) sales should hit $9.1 billion by 2026, with the market dominated by fixed broadband services from non-geostationary satellites, and revenue growth being driven primarily by aeronautical equipment, said Northern Sky Research Monday in a news release. NSR said antenna prices will remain high due to the technical complexity of FPAs for mobile applications. It said the in-flight connectivity, leisure maritime and land-mobile government markets mean mobile applications will generate more than 92 percent of FPA equipment revenue by 2026. The researcher said most fixed applications will be the delivery of satellite broadband services to more than 2 million lower-priced FPAs, primarily in Asia and the Middle East, by 2026.
Flat panel antenna (FPA) sales should hit $9.1 billion by 2026, with the market dominated by fixed broadband services from non-geostationary satellites, and revenue growth being driven primarily by aeronautical equipment, said Northern Sky Research Monday in a news release. NSR said antenna prices will remain high due to the technical complexity of FPAs for mobile applications. It said the in-flight connectivity, leisure maritime and land-mobile government markets mean mobile applications will generate more than 92 percent of FPA equipment revenue by 2026. The researcher said most fixed applications will be the delivery of satellite broadband services to more than 2 million lower-priced FPAs, primarily in Asia and the Middle East, by 2026.
With the Super Bowl two days away, Best Buy split its marketing messaging Friday between the big game and tax season. Its landing page showed a football player in a generic football helmet on a TV screen with text promoting Samsung 55-inch TVs starting at $499. Samsung’s UN65KU6290FXZA 65-inch 4K Ultra HD TV was cart-priced at Best Buy Friday at $899, $200 below the manufacturer’s minimum advertised price, and the Samsung 60-inch UN60KU6270FXZA 4K TV had sold out at $599. In an email blast to customers Friday with the subject line “Just in time! Intercept our big game TV deals,” Target offered customers its 10 percent off in-store deal on all TVs to online customers, too, with a Saturday expiration. In a blog post Friday, NPD analyst Ben Arnold said Super Bowl LI “looks to be another promising event for the TV market” with bargain hunters able to score Black Friday-like pricing across several size classes. “Those looking to upgrade their primary set to the latest and greatest technology can find deals from many of the top-tier TV brands,” Arnold said. In the week leading up to Super Bowl L last year, the average selling price for a 55-inch flat panel TV was $738, $40 lower than the preceding 12-month average and the lowest level seen for the 52 weeks ending that week, according to NPD tracking data. Prices for 4K TVs, at $962, were 11 percent lower than the 12-month average. The heavy price promotion “achieved its desired effect,” driving a 25 percent surge in 55-inch TV sales over the Super Bowl Week in 2015, Arnold said. The markets of Super Bowl teams see an added boost in TV buying, with sales in Charlotte and Denver last year spiking 47 percent in February, compared with a national bump of 30 percent, Arnold said. With Atlanta’s last trip to the Super Bowl 18 years ago, Arnold expects to see a sharp increase in unit sales in that market.
FCC bureaus Friday afternoon undid numerous orders and other items (see 1702030058) enacted under former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, reversing actions on zero rating, media ownership, video streaming and other matters. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn criticized it as “Take out the trash day” and a “Friday news dump.” The reversed items are all “last minute actions” that weren't supported by a majority of commissioners when they were taken and that “ran contrary to the wishes expressed by the leadership of our congressional oversight committees,” said Chairman Ajit Pai in a statement Friday. "In some cases, Commissioners were given no advance notice of these midnight regulations." The actions also were a subject of our earlier story (see 1701240020).
FCC bureaus Friday afternoon undid numerous orders and other items (see 1702030058) enacted under former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, reversing actions on zero rating, media ownership, video streaming and other matters. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn criticized it as “Take out the trash day” and a “Friday news dump.” The reversed items are all “last minute actions” that weren't supported by a majority of commissioners when they were taken and that “ran contrary to the wishes expressed by the leadership of our congressional oversight committees,” said Chairman Ajit Pai in a statement Friday. "In some cases, Commissioners were given no advance notice of these midnight regulations." The actions also were a subject of our earlier story (see 1701240020).
Supreme Court pick Neil Gorsuch appears highly skeptical about broad deference justices have given expert agencies, and he has cited the FCC as a prime example. Gorsuch, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judge whom President Donald Trump tapped to fill the seat of the late Justice Antonin Scalia, is seen by FCC watchers as a likely vote to rein in the deference the high court has given agencies under its 1984 Chevron precedent, including in the 2005 Brand X broadband ruling.
Supreme Court pick Neil Gorsuch appears highly skeptical about broad deference justices have given expert agencies, and he has cited the FCC as a prime example. Gorsuch, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judge whom President Donald Trump tapped to fill the seat of the late Justice Antonin Scalia, is seen by FCC watchers as a likely vote to rein in the deference the high court has given agencies under its 1984 Chevron precedent, including in the 2005 Brand X broadband ruling.
The FCC set a pleading cycle on the planned transfer of undersea cable rights and other authorizations from Amper units to Amalgamated Telecom Holdings (ATH). Comments and petitions to deny are due March 1, with replies due March 16 on the proposed transfer of control to ATH of international licenses, wireless licenses, satellite earth station authorizations and a cable landing license held by Amper's AST Telecom (doing business as Bluesky), American Samoa Hawaii Cable (ASHC) and Samoa American Samoa Cable (SASC), said a public notice in docket 16-420 in Tuesday's Daily Digest. The parties also request a foreign ownership declaratory ruling "to permit investment of 100 percent in AST by ATH," a public company of the Republic of Fiji. Amper is a Spanish holding company with a 91.8 percent interest in eLandia International, the Miami-based U.S. direct parent of AST and indirect parent of ASHC and SASC. Another eLandia unit has invested in the American Samoa-Hawaii Cable System that AST operates.
The FCC set a pleading cycle on the planned transfer of undersea cable rights and other authorizations from Amper units to Amalgamated Telecom Holdings (ATH). Comments and petitions to deny are due March 1, with replies due March 16 on the proposed transfer of control to ATH of international licenses, wireless licenses, satellite earth station authorizations and a cable landing license held by Amper's AST Telecom (doing business as Bluesky), American Samoa Hawaii Cable (ASHC) and Samoa American Samoa Cable (SASC), said a public notice in docket 16-420 in Tuesday's Daily Digest. The parties also request a foreign ownership declaratory ruling "to permit investment of 100 percent in AST by ATH," a public company of the Republic of Fiji. Amper is a Spanish holding company with a 91.8 percent interest in eLandia International, the Miami-based U.S. direct parent of AST and indirect parent of ASHC and SASC. Another eLandia unit has invested in the American Samoa-Hawaii Cable System that AST operates.
New Chairman Ajit Pai is likely to restructure the FCC to create an economics bureau, or something similar, industry officials said. The focus on economics comports with the long-standing Republican focus on cost-benefit analysis of orders and other agency actions. Pai, in his first news conference on his new job, said Tuesday he hasn’t made any decisions on process reform or agency restructuring (see 1701310056).