For people who want a piece of Hollywood history instead of merely watching it on screen, Turner Classic Movies and Julien’s Auctions will be presenting their latest Icons & Idols sale.

With E.T. marking its 40th anniversary, TCM and Julien’s are auction off the mechanical actor who played the extraterrestrial in the 1982 film. The gadget, built before movies could depend on CGI, is considered an engineering marvel and is expected to fetch between $2 million and $3 million at the auction.

“We are thrilled to continue the 40th anniversary party for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and the genius of Steven Spielberg can never be celebrated enough,” TCM general manager Pola Changnon said. “This auction truly runs the spectrum of film history, from the classics to the modern era, and Julien’s is yet again making these unbelievably rare items accessible to film lovers everywhere.”

Other items going on the block include:

• A Marilyn Monroe black wool cocktail dress, expected to sell for $40,000 to $60,000.
• An original hero prop Nimbus 2000 broom belonging to Harry Potter (played by Daniel Radcliffe) from the production of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Bids are expected to reach $80,000 to $100,000. 
• Charlton Heston’s original Moses’ Holy Staff from the 1956 epic The Ten Commandments. Estimated sale value $40,000-$60,000.
• Mitchell MK II 35-millimeter motion picture camera used to film the King of the World scene in James Cameron’s 1997 blockbuster Titanic, expected to sell for $30,000 to $50,000.
• A pair of Everlast boxing gloves and shorts worn by Robert DeNiro in Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull, expected to fetch $30,000-$50,000 at auction.
• A brown terrycloth robe with “Italian Stallion” embroidered in white stitching on the back, screen-worn by Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa in the opening scene of the 1976 film Rocky, expected to bring $80,0000-$100,000.
• A 1943 Academy Award presented to W. Howard Green for his work in color cinematography for the film Phantom of the Opera, which is expected to sell for $80,000 to $100,000. ■

Instead of just letting fans watch film legends, Turner Classic Movies is collaborating on an auction that will let people buy pieces of Hollywood history.

TCM is working with Julien’s Auctions on a sale that will showcase 1,400 iconic items such as the costumes Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell wore in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (expected to fetch $80,000 to $100,000), an original stormtrooper helmet from Star Wars: A New Hope ($200,000-$300,000), Captain America’s shield from Captain America: The First Avenger ($60,000-$80,000), Thor’s Hammer from Thor: The Dark World ($20,000-$30,000) and the motor yacht from Frank Sinatra’s Pal Joey ($1.5 million to $2 million).

Also on the block are items from the collection of Joe Eszterhas, jewelry pieces from Elizabeth Taylor, props from Harry Potter movies, and items from the estates of James Garner and Robert Stack.

“We are so impressed with Julien’s Auctions and their ability to bring the past to life, making one-of-a-kind items accessible to film lovers everywhere,” said Pola Changnon, general manager of TCM. “Our fans crave a tangible connection to their passion and now they can satisfy that desire with these iconic costumes and unique memorabilia from the movies we air on TCM.”

Julien’s Auctions and TCM Present: Hollywood Legends will take place over three days on July 15, 16 and 17. The event will be promoted in on-air and online programming.

TCM has been in the auction business for almost 10 years, helping to sell items from The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca and the Wizard of Oz.

“Today marks an exciting milestone for Julien’s Auctions as our new collaboration with TCM will bring our world class collection of important Hollywood artifacts and our premium auctions to new heights and build on our reputation as the leading auction house to the stars,” said Martin Nolan, executive director of Julien’s Auctions.

“TCM’s esteemed programming, passionate fans and marquee events such as the TCM Film Festival makes them the perfect brand to align with.” Nolan said. “As a lifetime classic movie fan and collector, as well as a longtime admirer and viewer of TCM, this is a great honor in my professional career in the auction industry. We’re looking forward to achieving some exciting record-breaking sales and events and jointly offering classic movie fans and collectors a truly unique way to experience the world of Hollywood memorabilia auctions." ■

Bidding was scheduled to begin Thursday (Dec. 9) in the assignment phase of the FCC's 3.45 GHz auction.

The clock phase, where companies bid for contiguous spectrum blocks, ended last month, grossing $21,888,007,794--before bidding credits are factored in, which will slightly lower that total--the FCC provided a $25 million bidding credit for small businesses and a $10 million credit for rural providers.

In the assignment phase, winning bidders who wish to can bid--online or by phone--for specific frequencies. Those who choose not to participate in the follow-on assignment auction still get contiguous frequencies that correspond to the number of blocks they won.

Last March, the FCC voted to allocate the 3.45-3.55 GHz band for flexible use, complete the relocation of secondary non-federal commercial users, and sunset amateur use of a portion of the band.

The winning bidders are still in a quiet period, so can't identify themselves or talk about whether or not they are bidding in the assignment phase. ■

The Federal Communications Commission's 3.45-GHz midband spectrum auction is practicing some trickle-up economics, with the initial flood of dollars — up by more than $1 billion dollars per round in the initial stages as bidders vied for spectrum in top markets — now only a trickle, ticking up by only a few million dollars per round for the past several days.

After round 134, there were only 27 spectrum “products” — out of a total of 481 — with demand greater than supply. When that number hits zero, the auction will close, even if there isn’t a winning bidder for all of the product. That’s because the reserve price of $14.775 billion, which is 110% of the cost of relocating incumbents, was met long ago.

Currently there are 446 products with demand equal to supply. Midband spectrum is generally considered the sweet spot for 5G wireless services, due to its propagation characteristics.

Ten days ago, the FCC tried to goose the process by increasing the number of rounds from five to seven and decreasing the time per round from a half-hour to 20 minutes.

Also: Revved-Up FCC 3.45-GHz Spectrum Auction Gets In Gear

The aggregate bid total stands at $21,871,582,294, up only a little more than $3 million from round 133’s $21,868,132,284, with the clock phase of the auction likely nearing its close. There will then be an assignment phase, in which winning bidders can vie for specific frequencies. They will get contiguous spectrum blocks regardless of whether they participate in that follow-on auction.

“Bidders are continuing to focus their excess demand in mid to small PEAs [partial economic areas] where prices are relatively low,” said law firm Wiley’s auction-watching team several rounds ago. “Because the competition is focused on small markets, average bid prices are increasing extremely slowly and are most likely near their final values.”

The auction began Oct. 5 with 33 bidders, including AT&T, Verizon Communications and T-Mobile. Cable broadband operators had argued that the way the auction was structured — specifically the license sizes — would discourage them from bidding.

But whenever it closes, the auction will be at least the third-highest-grossing FCC auction in history behind the C-band and AWS-3 (advanced wireless services) auctions.

The MotorTrend Group will offer live coverage of the Mecum automobile auctions beginning in 2022 as part of a multiyear deal between the two parties announced Thursday (Oct. 28).

Under the new deal, MotorTrend Group — a joint venture between The Enthusiast Network and Discovery — will air more than 160 hours of live coverage across ten Mecum Auctions beginning in January 2022 on subscription streaming service MotorTrend Plus and linear TV channel MotorTrend TV, according to the company. The auctions currently air on NBCSN, which is set to leave the air at the end of this year. 

“Mecum is the leading automotive auction company in the world with the most extraordinary variety of vehicles,” Alex Wellen, global president and general manager for the MotorTrend Group, said in a statement. “Car fans everywhere will be able to watch all Mecum Auctions on MotorTrend’s subscription streaming service anytime, anywhere and on MotorTrend TV, but that’s only the beginning: Together with Mecum, we will channel our collective fans’ passions with the launch of a wide range of interactive, personal experiences across all of our digital platforms.” 

Added Mecum Auctions CEO Dave Magers: “We are thrilled to be joining forces with the MotorTrend Group, the world’s most expansive and prominent automotive media company. This is not simply a new TV programming deal, this is a strategic media partnership between Mecum and MotorTrend coming together to create engaging new experiences for automotive enthusiasts across the entire media landscape. We are very excited to be working with Alex Wellen and the entire MotorTrend team on many future opportunities.”

TiVo has emerged as the winning bidder for bankrupt IPTV solutions provider MobiTV, paying $18.5 million to beat out a competitive joint bid from Amino Technologies and Roku over the course of a two-day auction process.

Emeryville, Calif.-based MobiTV represented a competitor for TiVo in the market for delivering IPTV solutions to cable companies. 

TiVo's bid, which included $17.4 million in cash, usurped the combination of a joint $18 million bid that included $5 million sub bid by Roku and patent company RPX for MobiTV's intellectual property assets; and a $13 million bid by UK-based Amino for the broader "going concern" portion of MobiTV's business.  

TiVo's acquisition must first be approved by the Delaware court overseeing MobiTV's Chapter 11 restructuring, but TiVo parent company Xperi believes the transaction will be closed by June. 

The Amino/Roku/RPX joint bid is now considered a "backup bid."

MobiTV provides turnkey app-based video distribution technology to small and midsized pay TV operators, mainly cable companies, with clients ranging from bigger concerns, including T-Mobile and Cable One, to the tiny cable operators represented by the National Cable TV Cooperative. 

MobiTV entered bankruptcy in early March, reporting liabilities of $79 million vs. only $19 million in assets. T-Mobile, which used MobiTV tech in its recently launched and quickly scuttled TVision virtual pay TV platform, provided MobiTV with $15.5 million in debtor-in-possession financing to keep going amid its Chapter 11 process.

TiVo was purchased nearly two years ago by Xperi in a deal valued at $3 million Los Angeles-based Xperi is vested in sectors including in-car entertainment.  

In a statement released following the successful winning bid, Xperi said, "The MobiTV solution provides an attractive extension of TiVo’s IPTV Pay-TV service offerings by adding managed services with the ability to reduce deployment time and onboarding costs. MobiTV will help increase TiVo’s IPTV penetration with U.S. pay-TV operators enabling them to rapidly launch a branded, fully featured, app-based Pay-TV service. The acquisition includes MobiTV’s patent portfolio, which is highly complementary to Xperi’s existing media patent portfolio."

“The acquisition of the MobiTV assets immediately expands our capabilities and the addressable market for our IPTV solutions, helping to secure TiVo’s position as a leading provider of Pay-TV solutions,” said Jon Kirchner, chief executive officer of Xperi, in the statement.  “As a result, the acquisition of MobiTV’s managed service assets will help accelerate our growth in the IPTV market through an increased subscriber footprint.”

The Republican leadership of the Senate Commerce Committee have the FCC's back when it comes to reclaiming satellite C-band spectrum for terrestrial 5G. 

In a letter to FCC chairman Ajit Pai, Sens. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), chairman of the committee, and John Thune (R-S.D.) urged the FCC to meet its Dec. 8 deadline for launching the auction. 

Last week, the FCC denied a petition by some satellite operators to delay the auction. 

Related: FCC Denies Petition to Delay C-Band Payment Comments 

The FCC voted unanimously to reclaim 300 MHz from the 500 MHz in the C-band, auctioning 280 MHz for 5G wireless and 20 MHz for a guard band. The other 200 MHz will house the satellite operators who deliver network programming to cable operators and broadcasters. 

"We welcome the Federal Communications Commission’s continued efforts to make more mid-band spectrum available for 5G," they wrote. "The FCC’s sound and decisive approach to free up 280 megahertz of C-Band spectrum for flexible use will help deliver 5G services to all Americans. It will also help promote investment and innovation in new 5G applications and services and address America’s mid-band spectrum deficit." 

Related: FCC Gets Early C-Band Clearing Agreements 

The Republicans said clearing mid-band spectrum ASAP is all about winning the race to 5G, something President Trump has made a national priority.

By Gary Arlen

Initiating a new "accelerated relocation payments" process, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai previewed his proposal today for a C-Band spectrum auction that would trigger up to $9.7 billion to incumbent satellite operators who use that bandwidth, with initial payments beginning by late next year. Pai said the auction will start on December 8, 2020.

In a speech at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation in Washington, Pai offered a preview of the proposed rulemaking, which he will unveil in full tomorrow (Friday, Feb. 7) in preparation for an FCC vote at the Commission's February 28 open meeting.

Pai's draft rules would make the lower 280 megahertz of the C-band (3.7-3.98 GHz) available for flexible use, including 5G. The 20 megahertz above that (3.98-4 GHz) would serve as a guard band. Existing satellite operations (primarily used to carry video programming to cable TV headends) would be repacked into the upper 200 megahertz of the band (4.0-4.2 GHz). band, with relocation costs covered by the auction proceeds, and paid directly by winning bidders to the satellite carriers.

Satellite operators could receive accelerated relocation payments if they are able to clear the lower portion of the C-band on an speeded-up timeline, Pai explained, thus advancing the national priority of making spectrum available for 5G deployment more quickly.

Pai said that these payments "would create powerful incentives for incumbent operators to expedite the transition." His accelerated timeframe calls for clearing the lower 100 MHz of the C-band in 46 of the nation’s top 50 Partial Economic Areas by September 2021 and reclaiming the remaining spectrum by September 2023.

FCC chairman Ajit Pai plans to take the wraps off his long-awaited C-Band satellite spectrum item Thursday, Feb. 6, the same day he is expected to circulate it to the other commissioners for their perusal. 

Related: Pai Proposes FCC Auction of C-Band 

That is according to the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, which said the chairman is outlining the item in a speech in Washington that day. 

Pai has said he plans to vote the item at the FCC's February meeting. 

The item will almost certainly include a public auction of 280 MHz of the 500 MHz in the C-Band, midband spectrum that is beachfront property for 5G, plus 20 MHz for a guard band.  

Some of the auction's proceeds will go to pay moving expenses for satellite operators and their broadcast and cable clients. 

But still to be determined is how much the FCC may allocate from auction proceeds for satellite operators as an incentive to move to smaller spectrum quarters ASAP, as those operators have said is necessary and if there will be any incentive payments to the cable operators and broadcasters who receive their network and remote programming from those satellite operators.  

The FCC says bidding has concluded in the CAF II advanced communications subsidies auction, though it will be "a few" days before the results are made public and the winning bidders identified.

The FCC gave incumbent telcos the first shot at its Connect America Fund (CAF) funds to deliver fixed broadband to rural communities. Beginning June 24, it gave competitors a shot at those funds in round two (CAF II), though incumbents could jump back in as well.

What is being bid on are subsidy monies to provide service in census blocks in states where the price cap carriers declined the support. 

Related: FCC Approves Final Pieces of CAF II Auction

Cox, Altice USA, Verizon, Frontier and Cingular were among those approved to bid. 

FCC chair Ajit Pai had encouraged participation by cable and satellite operators, rural co-ops, rural telcos and others.

Ten price cap carriers got first crack at the subsidy money in 2015. What they left on the table is being offered to rural electric cooperatives, fixed wireless providers, cable companies, and satellite providers (the incumbent local exchange carriers who passed on it in 2015 can also bid).

There was $198 million in annual support available in the auction (or $1.98 billion for 10 years). The Phase II budget was actually $2.15 billion, but the FCC early on set aside $170.4 million to dole out via a New York State broadband subsidy program. Winners will get their funds in monthly installments over those 10 years. Winners must provide "at least one broadband and voice service at rates that are reasonably comparable to the rates for similar service in urban areas.

They also must meet various targets, including: 40 percent of the required number of locations in a state by the end of third year of support; an additional 20 percent in each subsequent year; and 100 percent by the end of the sixth year of support.

The FCC granted New York state a waiver to use the CAF II subsidies for its own competitive New York Broadband Program for providing broadband in unserved rural areas, subject to conditions to ensure "broad participation and oversight."

The FCC Tuesday (July 24) began auctioning billions in broadband buildout subsidies to cable operators and other competitors to the incumbent telcos.

The FCC gave incumbent telcos the first shot at its Connect America Fund (CAF) subsidies to deliver fixed broadband to rural communities. Now it is giving competitors a shot at those funds in round two (CAF II), though incumbents can jump back in as well.

Round one of the Connect America Fund Phase II Auction (auction 903) began at 10 a.m. Rounds are six hours, and bidding is currently every other business day, which means the next round will be July 26, then Monday, July 30. The FCC could shorten rounds and increase the frequency to goose the bidding, as it did with the broadcast incentive auction, which was also a reverse auction.

In fact, it will move to daily, six-hour rounds starting with that July 30 round.

Related: FCC Approves 220 Applicants for $1.98 Billion CAF II Auction

Ten price cap carriers got first crack at the subsidy money in 2015. What they left on the table is being offered to rural electric cooperatives, fixed wireless providers, cable companies, and satellite providers (the incumbent local exchange carriers who passed on it in 2015 can also bid).

Cox, Altice USA, Verizon, Frontier and Cingular have all been approved to bid. 

FCC chair Ajit Pai has encouraged participation by cable and satellite operators, rural co-ops, rural telcos and others.

Up to $2 billion in subsidies will be available over the next decade to deliver broadband to unserved rural areas as part of the FCC's ongoing transition of its advanced communications Universal Service Fund. 

Related: FCC Approves Final Pieces of CAF II Auction

"Through this first-of-its-kind multiround reverse auction, a wide variety of providers are competing for universal support funding to expand broadband deployment," Pai plans to tell Congress at a Hill hearing Wednesday (July 25). "The reverse auction mechanism will ensure that this money is distributed efficiently and that we get the most bang for our buck."

A reverse auction means the low bidder wins. What is being bid on is subsidies for providing service in census blocks in states where the price cap carriers declined the support, "extremely high-cost census blocks" excluding New York (see below), Alaska and the territories, and "certain other census blocks that were removed from the offer of model-based support." Winners will have to provide annual reports and build-out certifications. 

There is $198 million in annual support available (or $1.98 billion for 10 years). The Phase II budget was actually $2.15 billion, but the FCC early on set aside $170.4 million to dole out via a New York State broadband subsidy program. Winners will get their funds in monthly installments over those 10 years. Winners must provide "at least one broadband and voice service at rates that are reasonably comparable to the rates for similar service in urban areas.

They also must meet various targets, including: 40 percent of the required number of locations in a state by the end of third year of support; an additional 20 percent in each subsequent year; and 100 percent by the end of the sixth year of support.

The FCC granted New York state a waiver to use the CAF II subsidies for its own competitive New NY Broadband Program for providing broadband in unserved rural areas, subject to conditions to ensure "broad participation and oversight."

Click here to check out the qualified bidders.

WASHINGTON — According to a source familiar with meetings Wednesday (June 17) between various spectrum auction stakeholders and Federal Communcations Commission staffers, the agency plans to drop dynamic reserve pricing (DRP), an approach to TV-station pricing in the incentive auction that broadcasters had argued would artificially lower their payouts.

The FCC is also planning to stick with 30 Megahertz in the spectrum reserve for competitive carriers in the forward auction, rather than the 40 MHz some — notably T-Mobile — had been pushing for.

The agency will vote on the auction structure rulemaking proposal, as well as the spectrum holdings public notice, at the July 16 public meeting.

Broadcasters have also been signaled that they will get more information about the auction within rounds, with the FCC letting them know how close they are to reaching the agency's final price for their spectrum.

According to the source, while the dreaded DRP is dead, the FCC did not take the Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters coalition’s advice on how to replace it, or to give less weight to population covered when it came to calculating a station's price and value in the auction, as the EOBC had suggested, though getting DRP off the table was a big plus.

The FCC staffers are said to have met with low power and full-power broadcasters to outline the proposals, as well as wireless carriers who will be bidding for the freed-up spectrum.

The items still have to be voted, so the deal is not yet, but these are the proposals FCC chairman Tom Wheeler has offered up, presumably with enough votes to pass them.

"The proposal eliminates bidding procedures that many commenters believed were burdensome and could limit broadcaster participation," FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler blogged late Wednesday, though without saying specifically it was DRP that was being axed. "It also adopts a formula for opening bid prices that creates value for both broadcasters and American taxpayers," he continued. "The proposal responds to requests to make more information about bidding available to bidders before and during the auction. And it ensures that competitive wireless carriers and new entrants have a clear shot at adding sufficient low-band spectrum to their portfolios so that they can compete more effectively in both rural and urban areas."

That would be the 30 MHz of low-band spectrum being reserved for carriers other than Verizon and AT&T.

Moody’s Investor’s Service said that Dish Network’s aggressive bidding in the AWS-3 wireless spectrum auctions could affect its credit ratings.

Dish actually bid about $13.3 billion for the licenses, but because it bid mostly through designated entities, it received a discount of 25%, putting it on the hook for about $10.4 billion.

While some FCC commissioners criticized Dish for using DE’s to bid on the licenses, Moody’s said that the sheer size of the bidding could result in lower credit ratings and therefor more expensive access to capital for the satellite giant.

In a statement, Moody’s senior vice president Neil Begley said depending on how Dish finances the bids; it could negatively impact its Ba3 Corporate Family rating and SGL-1 speculative grade liquidity rating.

Dish hasn’t said what its obligations are under the auction nor how it would fund its bids. Moody’s anticipates when anti-collusion rules expire in about 10 business days after the close of the auction; the company will announce its obligations and funding intentions.

"The company could move forward with a number of options, including selling or licensing the spectrum, independently launching its own wireless service and competing as the nation's fifth major player in the wireless telecommunications space or partnering with or acquiring or merging with another wireless carrier like T-Mobile," Begley said in a statement. "In our view, a tie-up with an existing wireless carrier or a company with significant capital resources is the only possible strategy that could give Dish a chance of success in the wireless arena, and management has publicly stated its desire to do so."

If Dish funds its AWS-3 spectrum purchase with cash on hand (which amounts to about $10 billion, including marketable securities), Moody’s believes uncertainty
surrounding strategic plans and future impact on its balance sheet will continue to weigh on Dish's credit ratings. Excluding any additional financing, Dish DBS's gross debt-to-EBITDA leverage, was 4.7x as of Sept. 30 (incorporating Moody's standard adjustments). The company's ratings would come under pressure if it engages in acquisitions and investments that increase gross leverage to more than 5.5 times.