TELECOMMUNICATIONS

FCC Moves Ahead With TV Satellite Auction: The Federal Communications Commission, in a blow to Tele-Communications Inc., has voted to push ahead with plans to auction the last remaining satellite slot for beaming television programs nationwide. TCI, the nation’s largest cable operator, had sought to offer a direct broadcast satellite (DBS) service by buying the hotly contested license for the slot from a Virginia company that had failed to put together a DBS service. But the agency’s 3-2 vote means Denver-based TCI will have to bid for the license next year against other powerhouses, including MCI Communications Corp., which recently struck an alliance with Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.