WASHINGTON—The closing bell rang for the FCC’s forward spectrum incentive auction last Friday, Feb. 10, with bidding concluding at $19.6 billion. As a result, the National Association of Tower Erectors has issued a statement to the Commission.

“The closing of the bidding phase of the incentive auction is a tangible step in this process and the participants should be congratulated,” said Todd Schlekeway, NATE executive director. “The real transition related work has not yet started, however, and it is paramount that the wireless carriers and broadcasters involved hire only qualified contractors that are experienced and equipped to conduct the re-packing work in a safe and quality manner.

Schlekeway goes on to remind the Commission and broadcasters that NATE has safety resources available to them to ensure that the requirements for future work on broadcast and cellular towers are met.

WASHINGTON—The fourth and final forward TV spectrum incentive auction has now closed at $19,632,506,746, but the auction itself is not over. Forward auction winners will next vie for specific frequencies.

“The participation of these broadcasters and wireless carriers will enable the Commission to release 84 megahertz of spectrum into the broadband marketplace. These low-band airwaves will improve wireless coverage across the country and will play a particularly important role in deploying mobile broadband services in rural areas," said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai in a statement.

The bidding went into lightning rounds of 40 minutes each Wednesday morning, Feb. 8. Fewer than 20 or so of the 832 licensing areas remained active in the lightning rounds. Most were small markets but unreserved spectrum in New Orleans crept back into play at one point. The commission pushed the auction further on Friday by boosting bids from 10 to 15 percent between rounds, and by making bidders go all in, i.e., increasing the activity requirement from 95 to 100 percent. The final forward auction closed after 58 rounds.

While this particular bidding phase of the auction is over, the auction itself goes on. Winners will proceed to the assignment phase in which they vie for specific frequencies versus the generic blocks they just won. (See, “FCC Clarifies Auction Assignment Phase,” Jan. 26, 2017)

The commission previously said that it would release an assignment phase pubic notice “within a few business days” after the end of the forward auction clock phase. The assignment phase PN will announce the start time and provide directions for bidders. It will be followed about a week later with a preview period, then a practice auction, a mock auction and finally, the real thing.

The assignment phase is expected to “take several weeks” given the number of wireless licensing partial economic areas, or PEAs. The United States and its territories are divided into 416 PEAs, compared to the 210 designated market areas that geographically define TV broadcast licenses.

The final funds will be divided into $10 billion ($10,054,676,822) for 84 MHz of broadcast TV spectrum, $1.75 billion to move TV stations into what’s left of the broadcast spectrum band, $225 million to pay for the auction, and $7 billion plus whatever is raised in the assignment phase, for the U.S. Treasury.

For more TV Technology coverage, see our spectrum auction silo.

WASHINGTON—Incentive auction organizers will boost the amount bid prices will increase between rounds starting Wednesday, Feb. 1. The Federal Communications Commission auction team said opening bid prices will be increased incrementally by 10 percent between rounds versus the 5 percent increase in effect up to now.

“This 10 percent increment will be reflected in the next round clock prices announced after the last round of bidding on Tuesday,” the commission team said on the spectrum auction dashboard.

The last 10 rounds of this, the fourth and final stage of the forward auction where wireless providers bid on TV spectrum, have raised on average a little under $21 million per round. Round No. 17 was still underway as of Monday afternoon.

Proceeds by Round:
Round 1: $17.7 billion

R2 Raised $508,164,087
R2 Total: $18,208,164,087

R3 Raised: $91,318,500
R3 Total: $18,299,482,587

R4 Raised: $55,399,540
R4 Total: $18,354,882,127

R5 Raised: $58,949,560
R5 Total: $18,413,831,687

R6 Raised: $26,192,300
R6 Total: $18,440,023,987

R7 Raised: $21,500,000
R7 Total: $18,461,523,987

R8 Raised: $22,114,400
R8 Total: $18,483,638,387

R9 Raised: $21,415,000
R9 Total: $18,505,053,387

R10 Raised: $17,459,400
R10 Total: $18,522,512,787

R11 Raised: $23,013,000
R11 Total: $18,545,525,787

R12 Raised: $19,763,600
R12 Total: $18,565,289,387

R13 Raised: $18,588,000
R13 Total: $18,583,877,387

R14 Raised: $23,408,000
R14 Total: $18,607,285,387

R15 Raised: $20,336,000
R15 Total: $18,627,621,387

R16 Raised: $21,688,000
R16 Total: $18,649,309,387

WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission today confirmed that the fourth-stage forward auction will commence tomorrow, Wednesday, Jan. 18 at 10 a.m. Eastern. The fourth-stage reverse auction concluded Friday, Jan. 13, with broadcasters asking $10 billion for 84 MHz of TV spectrum from Ch.38 through Ch. 52 51.

Round one of the fourth stage forward auction will go from 10 a.m to noon, Eastern, with round two scheduled for 2 to 4 p.m. Eastern. The Stage 2 and 3 forward auctions both ended after just a single round of bidding, both of which failed to meet broadcasters’ aggregate asking price.

Auction observers, including Wells Fargo Senior Analyst Marci Ryvicker and Strategy& Principal Dan Hays, have noted that the auction is most likely to close at the 84 MHz clearing target for a couple of reasons: wireless providers are bidding on a higher proportion of the cleared spectrum than in previous stages, when more frequencies were devoted to guard bands, and when more TV stations had to be cleared.

Thus, broadcaster ask in the Stage 4 reverse auction was $10 billion compared to $40.3 billion in Stage 3, when the clearing target was 108 MHz, with 80 MHz leftover for wireless bidders. Wireless providers will be bidding on 70 MHz tomorrow.

Here’s Ryvicker’s Jan. 13 note: “We assume Stage 4 will be the end of this auction. Recall there were two parts of the final stage rule that had to be satisfied, the first being a reserve price' of $1.25/MHzPop for the top 40 markets, which equates to $15.9 billion of forward auction proceeds; and the second being the cost components, which are approximately $12 billion to $10 billion to the broadcasters plus $1.75 billion to cover the repack of the remaining stations, plus $225 million to cover auction-related costs. Using Stage 3’s forward auction bids, we calculate Stage 4 will generate a minimum of $17 billion—meaning it will satisfy both components of the final stage rule and the auction can conclude when the forward auction participants are done bidding.”

Hays also said that “at just over $10 billion we are confident that the auction is well within striking range of the budgets of mobile network operators. It could well close as early as next week...”

For more coverage of this issue, and the upcoming repack, see our TV Technologyspectrum auction silo.

WASHINGTON—Four days after stage two of the reverse auction closes, the FCC has announced that it will launch the second stage of the forward auction portion of the broadcast spectrum incentive auction. There is no confirmed date for this to happen as of yet, but some expect stage two of the reverse auction to complete mid next week, perhaps sooner; the reverse auction is currently in round 35. The FCC has reminded bidders to pay attention to its public reporting system for important auction announcements.

For the complete story, visit TVT's sister publication B&C.

WASHINGTON—Net proceeds after round five of the TV spectrum incentive forward auction reach just over $10 billion on Thursday afternoon, the third day of bidding. The results were posted at the Federal Communications Commission auction portal after 4 p.m. ET, when the round closed. The net proceeds came in at $10.05 billion, reflecting discounts totaling $537.6 million from total proceeds of $10.6 billion. Rural wireless providers and small business receive a discount off their bids. Nineteen of the 62 bidders in the forward auction qualified for discounts.

The bidding started on Tuesday at the opening prices finalized by the commission in June, with the opening round yielding $8.49 billion in bids. Bidders are vying for blocks of TV spectrum provisionally relinquished by broadcasters in the earlier reverse auction for a total of $86.4 billion. If the forward auction does not raise $84.6 billion, plus $1.75 billion to fund broadcaster relocation and a lesser sum to pay for the auction, the process will begin again with another reverse auction seeking less spectrum. Of the 126 MHz proffered through the reverse auction, 100 MHz is on the forward auction block, with 26 MHz going to buffer zones, wireless mics and unlicensed uses. The bidding is expected to go for several more rounds before the auction either closes or starts at a lower clearing target.

The commission planned for various scenarios going into the auction with regard to how much spectrum it could clear. This clearing target is calculated by optimization software that determines how many TV stations can be repacked into a reduced amount of spectrum without exceeding an interference threshold. Bidding will recommence Friday morning.

For more, see ourSpectrum Auction silo.
Also see....
Aug. 17, 2016
“Auction Round 3 Yields $9.2 Billion”
The commission must raise around $88 billion from 100 MHz of paired spectrum, or an estimated $2.76 per MHz/pop.

WASHINGTON—The next step in the broadcast incentive auction looks to be about four weeks away, according to the FCC’s public notice on the forward auction. The reverse portion of the incentive auction looks like it will end on June29, but per the public notice regarding the forward auction, it will begin “on the second business day after the close of bidding in the reverse auction, but no sooner than 15 business days after the release of the Qualified Bidders PN [public notice].” That would put the earliest that the forward auction could begin at July 26.

TV Technology sister publication B&C has the full story.