http://www.tvtechnology.com/business/0011/forward-auction-closes-at-/280291
Forward Auction Closes at $19.6 Billion
How many auctions can you fit in an auction? One more
February 10, 2017
By Deborah D. McAdams
WASHINGTON-The fourth and final forward TV spectrum incentive auction has now
closed at $19,632,506,746, but the auction itself is not over. Forward auction
winners will next vie for specific frequencies.
"The participation of these broadcasters and wireless carriers will enable the
Commission to release 84 megahertz of spectrum into the broadband marketplace.
These low-band airwaves will improve wireless coverage across the country and
will play a particularly important role in deploying mobile broadband services
in rural areas," said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai in a statement.
The bidding went into lightning rounds of 40 minutes each Wednesday morning,
Feb. 8. Fewer than 20 or so of the 832 licensing areas remained active in the
lightning rounds. Most were small markets but unreserved spectrum in New
Orleans crept back into play at one point. The commission pushed the auction
further on Friday by boosting bids from 10 to 15 percent between rounds, and by
making bidders go all in, i.e., increasing the activity requirement from 95 to
100 percent. The final forward auction closed after 58 rounds.
While this particular bidding phase of the auction is over, the auction itself
goes on. Winners will proceed to the assignment phase in which they vie for
specific frequencies versus the generic blocks they just won. (See, "FCC
Clarifies Auction Assignment Phase," Jan. 26, 2017)
The commission previously said that it would release an assignment phase pubic
notice "within a few business days" after the end of the forward auction clock
phase. The assignment phase PN will announce the start time and provide
directions for bidders. It will be followed about a week later with a preview
period, then a practice auction, a mock auction and finally, the real thing.
The assignment phase is expected to "take several weeks" given the number of
wireless licensing partial economic areas, or PEAs. The United States and its
territories are divided into 416 PEAs, compared to the 210 designated market
areas that geographically define TV broadcast licenses.
The final funds will be divided into $10 billion ($10,054,676,822) for 84 MHz
of broadcast TV spectrum, $1.75 billion to move TV stations into what's left of
the broadcast spectrum band, $225 million to pay for the auction, and $7
billion plus whatever is raised in the assignment phase, for the U.S. Treasury.
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