STATEMENT OF COMMISSIONER JESSICA ROSENWORCEL Re: Amendment of the Commission’s Policies and Rules for Processing Applications in the Direct Broadcast Satellite Service, IB Docket No. 06-160, Report and Order (September 26, 2019) Today’s Report and Order updates Federal Communications Commission rules that govern direct broadcast satellites. It lifts a fourteen-year freeze on requests to provide new DBS service and allows for reduced orbital spacing in the process. It has my support. But when it comes to this agency’s satellite priorities, I am mystified that we are spending time on streamlining DBS rules when there is no demonstrated interest from a new entrant. When it comes to satellite updates, our focus should be on modernizing orbital debris policies in services where there is growing demand. Over the past year, the FCC has approved more than 13,000 satellites for launch. Not one of them involved DBS. But when you consider the size of the new constellations we have just approved and the extraordinary number of objects headed to space, you realize we need to address junking up our skies—and we need to do it sooner rather than later. That’s why more than a year ago I called for a comprehensive review of orbital debris policies to mitigate collision risks and ensure the sustainability of space. What are we waiting for? We can’t keep kicking this can down the road or insisting orbital debris is the province of others that lack authority over commercial systems. We need to make this our satellite policy priority. We need to do so now.