H Block Bidding Nears $1 Billion

With 27 rounds under its belt, the FCC's H block auction has drawn $913,814,200 in bids for the vast majority (169) of the 176 licenses up for auction.

New York accounts for more than 20% of that total with $216,955,000 bid most recently for that license.

The FCC has set a floor price of $1.564 billion aggregate for all the licenses, but Dish has promised to at least meet that figure so the commission does not face the prospect of having to restart the auction with a lower floor price.

The auction began Jan. 22 and is expected to continue into next week. It is the first of three spectrum auctions culminating in the broadcast incentive auction.

The next round begins Friday morning.

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.