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Deadline Hollywood reports that the U.S. has sold rights to use radio-frequency spectrum in what is called an incentive auction. Television stations now using those rights will be paid to give them up.
Some 175 stations will collect $10.05 billion for agreeing to relinquish 84 MHz of spectrum. And 50 buyers committed $19.8 billion, and will get to use 70 MHz. (The remaining 14 MHz will go to wireless mics and unlicensed use.)
A blog post by the Philadelphia Inquirer said that a group representing the broadcasting industry was critical of the plan, which gives the winning stations 39 months to change frequencies in a process called repacking:
The National Association of Broadcasters says that the 39 months is arbitrary and should be rethought.
"The complexity of this thing is beyond daunting," NAB spokesman Dennis Wharton said on Thursday. "It will make the switch to digital from analog look like a walk in the park."
Additional coverage:
(Score: 3, Informative) by tnt118 on Saturday April 15 2017, @02:29PM
A total of 175 stations stations broadcasters won bids and will give up their spectrum, the FCC said in a statement on Thursday. The agency said that 30 stations will receive money for moving to a lower channel, and 133 others will give up their licenses, with many intending to remain on the air under channel sharing agreements with other stations. Twelve stations did not indicate that they planned to channel share — raising the prospect that they would go dark.
As part of the process of clearing the spectrum, 957 stations that did not put their spectrum up for bid will still get new channel assignments, with the first group of stations scheduled to move on Nov. 30, 2018.
http://variety.com/2017/biz/news/fcc-incentive-auction-10-billion-1202030079/ [variety.com]
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