H Block Nears $1.5 Billion

With 96 rounds completed the FCC's H block auction is just under the $1.5 billion mark.

As of Feb. 19, the auction has reached $1,499,978,000 in bids for 176 spectrum licenses. There were 13 bidders in the round, adding another $3.45 million to the total from the previous round.

The top bid is for New Yor, and appears to have topped out at a bid of just under $217 million.

Dish has promised that the auction will at least meet the FCC's floor price of $1.564 billion.

The auction will end when there are no more bidders or bids withdrawn or waivers used to extent the auction even without a bid.

The auction is the first of three spectrum auctions to raise money for FirstNet, the interoperable broadband first responder network. Then comes an advanced wireless services auction, followed by the broadcast incentive auction.

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.