FCC Spectrum Auction Falls Well Short of $88.3 billion Goal The FCC's spectrum auction has fallen well short of the $88.3 billion target bidders needed to to reach in order to cover the cost of payments to broadcasters. After 27 rounds of bidding, auction participants promised "only" $23,108,037,900 in total bids for 126 MHz worth of spectrum currently "owned" by broadcasters. As expected, this means the FCC will restart the TV spectrum incentive auction at a lower clearing target.

Given the $88 billion high water mark, few are surprised -- but it will drag out the overall auction potentially into next year. "Bidding in the forward auction has concluded for Stage 1 without meeting the final stage rule and without meeting the conditions to trigger an extended round," the FCC said via its public reporting system. "The incentive auction will continue with Stage 2 at a lower clearing target." 104 companies applied to bid for the broadcasters' airwaves, including AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile. Sprint is the only major wireless carrier to announce that it won't be participating in the auction. However, only 62 companies actually qualified or followed through in bidding on the spectrum, which wireless carriers hope to use to dramatically improve wireless broadband coverage and speed. The FCC is expected to begin stage 2 of the reverse auction September 13, at an expected new, but lower clearing target of 144 MHz. The end result will be nine paired blocks of spectrum, down from the 10 paired blocks in the initial 126 MHz clearing target. All told, 90MHz will be up for bid, down from the original 100 MHz total. And while broadcasters may get a bit less than anticipated, nobody should go to bed hungry once the auction finally closes. The FCC is expected to begin stage 2 of the reverse auction September 13, at an expected new, but lower clearing target of 144 MHz. The end result will be nine paired blocks of spectrum, down from the 10 paired blocks in the initial 126 MHz clearing target. All told, 90MHz will be up for bid, down from the original 100 MHz total. And while broadcasters may get a bit less than anticipated, nobody should go to bed hungry once the auction finally closes.







News Jump Comcast Shuts Off Internet for Subs Who Were Sold Service Illegally; AT&T, Verizon Team To Stop T-Mobile 5G; + more news California Defends Its Net Neutrality Law; AT&T's Traffic Up 20% Despite Data Traffic Actually Being Down; + more news Are The Comcast-Charter X1 Talks Dead In The Water?; AT&T May Offer Phone Plans With Ads For Discounts; + more news Europe's Top Court: Net Neutrality Rules Bar Zero Rating; ViacomCBS To Rebrand CBS All Access As Paramount+; + more news Verizon To Buy Reseller TracFone For $7B; 5G Not The Competitive Threat To Cable Many Thought It Would Be; + more news MS.Wants Records From AT&T On $300M Project; Google Fiber Outages In Austin, Houston, Other Texan Cities; + more news States With The Biggest Decreases In Speed; AT&T Hopes You'll Forget Its Fight Against Accurate Maps; + more news AT&T's CEO Has A Familiar $olution To US Broadband Woes; EarthLink Files Suit Against Charter; + more news 5G Doesn't Live Up To Hype, AT&T's 5G Slower Than Its 4G; Cord-Cutting Now In 37% of Broadband Households; + more news FCC Cited False Broadband Data Despite Warnings; ZTE, Huawei Replacement Cost Is $1.87B, But Only $1B Allocated; + more ---------------------- this week last week most discussed

Most recommended from 22 comments



Simba7

I Void Warranties

join:2003-03-24

Fromberg, MT 10 recommendations Simba7 Member Give some to the WISPs! I would prefer giving a slice of the spectrum to WISPs or a nationwide internet only service.



Broadcasters are the equivalent of a severely spoiled rotten child. moulder3

join:2007-05-21

Boston, MA 6 recommendations moulder3 Member Seriously?



The fact that we'd pay crappy tv stations that arguably aren't doing anything for the "public good" and who we GAVE free use of the frequency, only to now say we'd like the thing we gave you for free back--but don't worry, we'll pay top $$$ for something you never owned! The auction fell short "in order to cover the cost of payments to broadcasters"??? So, to recap, cell companies now have to effectively 'pay off' broadcasters (in addition to purchasing the frequencies from the FCC) for the frequencies that we, the public, gave tv broadcasters to use for FREE? How about each major city (where bandwidth is an issue & at a premium) takes a vote on whether to let each independent station continue to use their airwaves for free or to auction it off to phone providers? Then split the money between the feds & the DMA that is made from the auction!The fact that we'd pay crappy tv stations that arguably aren't doing anything for the "public good" and who we GAVE free use of the frequency, only to now say we'd like the thing we gave you for free back--but don't worry, we'll pay top $$$ for something you never owned!