FCC Forward Auction Fixes Due Today

Potential participants in the forward portion of the FCC's spectrum auction have until today (April 6) to submit their "cured" defective applications to the FCC.

On March 18, the FCC revealed the applicants to bid on TV broadcast spectrum after it is reclaimed and re-auctioned. That included 35 applications that were in some way incomplete or defective.

Those included names like BlueBird America and Teleguam Holdings, but also Liberty and AT&T.

Liberty has signaled it won't be bidding, but AT&T has signaled it was an easy fix and the application would be repaired. The window for fixing those applications opened March 21 and closes at 6 p.m. on April 6.

FCC staffers have been available to talk them through the deficiencies.

Only the 69 complete applications--which include Comcast/NBCU, Sinclair and Mediacom's Rocco Commisso--and whichever of the 35 defective applications are "cured" can participate in the auction, but they must still make upfront payments--in the millions--to be qualified to bid.

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.