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U.S. Holds "Incentive Auction" of UHF Spectrum
Deadline Hollywood reports [deadline.com] that the U.S. has sold rights to use radio-frequency spectrum in what is called 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 [philly.com] 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:
- Ars Technica [arstechnica.com]
- Reuters [reuters.com]
- Neowin [neowin.net]
- T-Mobile USA press release [t-mobile.com]
