The FCC’s Incentive Auction Task Force has updated information on the upcoming 2016 broadcast incentive auction and the value of broadcasters’ spectrum holidings appear to be increasing.
The new information makes public for the first time the high and median prices in each television market for full power and Class A stations eligible to participate in the incentive auction. These were calculated by the Commission in December but the prices being published today are acutally higher than those initial high-end compensation values in the original information package.
The proposed maximum opening bids for eligible full power broadcasters in New York and Los Angeles, the top two most valuable designate market areas (DMA), were $870 million and $630 million respectively.
A full list of the opening maximum and median bids for all DMAs can be found here.
The updated package also includes additional detail on channel sharing and the UHF-to-VHF bidding options, a description of the bidding hierarchy and the bid selection process proposed by the Commission in the Incentive Auction Comment Public Notice, and an overview of how the repacking process will work for stations that do not participate or whose bids are not selected.
Filed Under: Industry regulations