**DA 05-1742**

June 23, 2005

William Wiltshire, Esq.

Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis, LLP

1200 18^th^ Street, N.W.

12^th^ floor

Washington, D.C. 20036

Re: Call Sign E050092

File No. SES-LIC-20050405-00390

Call Sign E050093

File No. SES-LIC-20050405-00391

Dear Mr. Wiltshire:

On April 05, 2005, DirecTV Enterprises, LLC ('DirecTV') filed the
above-captioned applications for authority to operate new Ka-Band[^1]
earth stations in Castle Rock, Colorado and in Los Angeles,
California[^2] using Andrew 9.2 meter antennas. Both applications list
DIRECTV8, SPACEWAY1, SPACEWAY2, and ALSAT as Points of Communications.
For the reasons explained below, we DISMISS the applications without
prejudice to refiling.[^3]

The Commission's rules include specific information requirements from
earth station applicants in order for their applications to be complete
and acceptable for filing. In particular, Section 25.115(e),[^4] among
other things, requires earth station applications seeking to operate in
the 20/30 GHz Fixed Satellite Service (FSS) to file the information
described in Section 25.138(d). Section 25.138(d), in turn, requires
earth station applications to provide for each earth station antenna
type "a series of radiation patterns measured on a production antenna
performed on a calibrated antenna range..." DirecTV failed to provide
all the information noted and instead seeks to waive the completeness
requirement by granting this license on the condition that such
information be provided subsequently. In a separate request, DirecTV
sought and was granted Special Temporary Authority (STA)[^5] to obtain
measured data on an installed antenna.

The Commission may grant a waiver for good cause shown.[^6] Waiver is
appropriate if (1) special circumstances warrant a deviation from the
general rule, and (2) such deviation would better serve the public
interest than would strict adherence to the general rule.[^7]
Circumstances that would justify a waiver include \"considerations of
hardship, equity, or more effective implementation of overall
policy.\"[^8] Generally, the Commission may grant a waiver of its rules
in a particular case only if the relief requested would not undermine
the policy objective of the rule in question, and would otherwise serve
the public interest.[^9]

The Commission requires satellite and earth station applications to be
substantially complete when filed.[^10] Unless applications are
substantially complete, other interested parties would not be able to
determine whether or to what extent the proposed earth station creates a
risk of harmful interference to other licensed operations.[^11] In its
waiver requests, DirecTV submits representative sets of measurement data
for this model antenna for the *bottom* and *top* frequencies for
transmit and receive bands over a limited range of parameters. The
waiver request indicates that this specific antenna will not be measured
over the wide range of parameters as specified in Section 25.138(d).
DirecTV does not provide a justification for why the representative sets
of measurement data provided over limited parameters are sufficient to
meet the objectives of Section 25.138(d). Furthermore, DirecTV does not
provide an explanation as to why it could not file its application once
measured patterns were available and therefore be able to file a
substantially complete application. Therefore, DirecTV has not shown
that it faces any hardship or inequity that justifies a waiver of the
Commission\'s policy of accepting only substantially complete
applications. In light of the above, the request for partial waiver of
47 C.F.R. §§ 25.115(e) and 25.138(d) is HEREBY DENIED and your
application will be DISMISSED as incomplete.

We take this opportunity to apprise DirecTV of other errors that it
should correct if it chooses to refile the applications. In its
application file number SES-LIC-20050405-00390, the proposed elevation
angle and azimuth angle are inconsistent with the limit of the satellite
arc and location of the earth station. Specifically, the values
submitted for the elevation angle is 33.2° and for the azimuth angle is
125.1°. These values are inconsistent with the values of 37.8° for
elevation angle and 143.9° azimuth angle that correspond to the eastern
limit of satellite arc of 80° W.L. and the earth station location at
39°16'38.4" N.L. and 104°48'27.4"W.L. Lastly, we note that the
applications list ALSAT as one of the Points of Communication. Since
ALSAT authority is permitted only for earth stations using the
conventional C-Band[^12] or conventional Ku-Band,[^13] DirecTV should
remove ALSAT as one of the Points of Communication to avoid internal
inconsistencies.

In light of the above, the partial waiver request is HEREBY DENIED.
Therefore, we DISMISS the applications without prejudice to refiling.
These actions are taken pursuant to 47 C.F.R. § 0.261.

Sincerely,

Scott A. Kotler

Chief, Systems Analysis Branch

Satellite Division

International Bureau

[^1]: 18.3-18.8 GHz, 19.7-20.2 GHz, 28.35-28.6 GHz, and 29.25-30.0 GHz.

[^2]: SES-LIC-20050405-00390 proposes antenna site in Castle Rock,
    Colorado and SES-LIC-20050405-00391 proposes antenna site in Los
    Angeles, California.

[^3]: If DirecTV refiles the applications for a new license identical to
    the ones dismissed, with the exception of supplying the missing
    information, it need not pay an application fee. *See* 47 C.F.R. §
    1.1109(d).

[^4]: Section 25.115(e) states in part that "\[A\]pplications to license
    individual earth stations operating in the 20/30GHz band shall be
    filed on FCC Form 312, Main form and Schedule B, and shall also
    include the information described in Section 25.138."

[^5]: See File No. SES-STA-20050505-00540 for Call Sign E050092 and File
    No. SES-STA-20050505-00541 for Call Sign E050093. On May 5, 2005,
    DirecTV filed the STA requests to perform the necessary testing on
    the proposed antenna and indicated that it would provide the
    measured antenna pattern over the proposed range of frequencies as
    required under 47 C.F.R § 25.138(d) as the test is completed. The
    Commission granted DirecTV the STA requests to conduct antenna
    performance measurements. 47 C.F.R § 25.138(d) specifies that the
    measurements are to be taken in a calibrated antenna range.

[^6]: 47 C.F.R. § 1.3. *See also WAIT Radio v. FCC*, 418 F.2d 1153 (D.C.
    Cir. 1969) (*WAIT Radio*); *Northeast Cellular Tel. Co. v. FCC*, 897
    F.2d 1166 (D.C. Cir. 1990) (*Northeast Cellular*).

[^7]: *See Northeast Cellular*, 897 F.2d at 1166.

[^8]: *WAIT Radio*, 418 F.2d at 1159. *See also* Onsat Petition for
    Waiver to Permit Routine Licensing of 3.7 Meter Transmit and Receive
    Stations at C-Band, *Order*, 15 FCC Rcd 24488, 24490 (para. 5)
    (Int\'l. Bur., 2000).

[^9]: *See WAIT Radio*, 418 F.2d at 1157.

[^10]: 47 C.F.R. § 25.112.

[^11]: *See* EchoStar Satellite, LLC, *Order on Reconsideration*, DA
    04-4056, at para. 12 (Int\'l Bur., 2004), *citing* Salzer v. FCC,
    778 F.2d 869, 877 (D.C. Cir. 1985) (\"\[I\]t is not the agency\'s
    task to select for an applicant the type of operation that will
    minimize impermissible interference.\").

[^12]: 3.7-4.2 GHz and 5.925-6.425 GHz.

[^13]: 11.7-12.2 GHZ and 14.0-14.5 GHz.