Spectrum Auction Bidding Slows

The FCC's spectrum auction appeared to be winding down Tuesday (Feb. 7), with forward auction bidders boosting the total in the fourth, and last, stage by only $47 million dollars in four rounds, the smallest uptick over that many rounds since the auction met its benchmarks for closing Jan. 18.

The total was $19,450,264,586 as of round 38, the first round of the day, followed by $19,467,769,540 in round 39, $19,485,233,542 in round 40, and $19,497,368,002 in round 41, the day's last.

As of Wednesday, the FCC is boosting the number of rounds per day from four to six and shortening the rounds from an hour to 40 minutes.

The commission is already starting to send letters to TV stations informing them of their channel positions in the post-auction repack.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.