EchoStar, Hughes and WildBlue Score Broadband Funds

So maybe the folks in D.C. aren't entirely in the dark when it comes to satellite broadband.  First Hughes Network Systems scored $58.7M in broadband stimulus funds from RUS.  The company will use the funding to boost its already 540,000-strong national broadband service.  In addition, WildBlue garnered $19.5M in broadband stimulus funds; EchoStar got $14.2M; and Spacenet received an $8 million award to help provide services in Alaska and Hawaii.  WildBlue will use the money to provide satellite broadband access to approximately 110,000 people and 4,800 businesses across the rural West and Midwest while EchoStar plans to boost services in rural areas of the East and Midwest.  With the government handing out billions in broadband funding, that's barely a drop in the bucket, but it sure beats the "satellite what???!" attitude of previous months.•

DIRECTV, NPG Faceoff; LightSquared Moves Forward

• The latest retrans faceoff is pitting the News Press & Gazette's (NPG) suite of broadcast properties against DIRECTV.  NPG stations affected include KRDO (CBS) in Colorado Springs and Pueblo, CO; KVIA (ABC) in El Paso, TX; KESQ (ABC), KDFX (FOX) and KUNA (TMO) in Palm Springs, CA; and KIFI (ABC) in Idaho Falls, ID.  Deadline for a new retrans agreement is Monday, 8/23, at 1 p.m.

• LightSquared got one step closer to its vision of a satellite/terrestrial super broadband network yesterday as it delivered notice to Inmarsat triggering Phase 1 of a Cooperation Agreement between the two companies.  The agreement increases the amount of contiguous spectrum available to both parties and provides LightSquared enhanced operational flexibility for deployment of its 4G-LTE integrated terrestrial and satellite network.  LightSquared hopes to deploy its wholesale-only 4G-LTE network covering 92% of the U.S. population by 2015.•

SkyLog: NAB Push Back on Retrans; Programming & More

NAB Push Back on Retrans:  While MVPDs flock to Washington to seek relief from ever-rising broadcast retransmission rates, the broadcasters have struck back.  The NAB has launched KeepMyTV.org to convince consumers that pay TV providers should really, REALLY pay more.  Replete with praise for the big Bs product and advice on how to get that product "if your pay TV provider stops carrying it," the site seeks to counter the impact of last month's site launch by the American Television Alliance. 

Programming:  HBO may have spurned Netflix but not so streaming as the mega-premium plans to go mobile to the iPad and others via HBO Go within the next six months.  The story first broke in The Wrap which quotes HBO spokesperson Jeff Cusson:  "This part of an overarching plan to make HBO available everywhere.” --- Hallmark is going all out for the Sept. 13 launch of "The Martha Stewart Show" with a multi-million dollar consumer campaign.

Net Neutrality:  The "Daily Show's" Jon Stewart frets over a world in which Google and Verizon) decide who gets the biggest boost on the web ... Rush or HuffPost?  For the clip, go here.

Required Reading:  Wired on why the web is dead.  Find it here.•