The Federal Communications Commission ended the first stage of the spectrum incentive auction August 30 and announced it would progress to a second stage at a lower spectrum clearing target.
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The FCC’s in the process of auctioning much of it to wireless broadband providers.
“For start of the auction September 29 READ start of the auction October 1st”, the revised Notice Inviting Application for spectrum auction released by the Department of Telecom (DoT) said.
Stage 2 reverse auction bidding will open with one round on opening day and will fall into two two-hour rounds per day from 10 a.m.to noon and 3 p.m.to 5 p.m. Bidding in the Stage 2 forward auction will commence the next business day after the reverse auction closes, the FCC said. Broadcasters who agreed to participate had set a threshold – formally called the clearing cost – of $88.4 billion.
But with the first stage of the auction closed on Tuesday and bids totaling just $23 billion, the shortfall is enormous. The next lowest clearing target would be 114 MHz, with the TV band ending in Ch. 31, but the commission could feasibly drop it further. The auction could go through several more stages over coming months as the FCC shifts between wireless bidders and broadcast industry sellers to try to find a middle ground for at least some of the airwave rights.
“Perhaps the notion of a “spectrum crisis” pedaled in Washington for the last seven years is not as acute as policymakers were led to believe”, he said in a statement.
Ryvicker says that the round ended earlier than expected, suggesting that the entire auction could be concluded by the end of 2016.
Shares of companies that own multiple TV stations that were expecting a huge windfall from the auction are now at risk after a strong rally over the summer.
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Bidders, including major carriers like AT&T and Verizon, failed to hit the high $88.3 billion price target set during the broadcaster section of the sale.
