H Block Nears $1.5 Billion

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With 96 rounds completed, the FCC's H block auction is at $1,499,978,000 for 176 spectrum licenses.

There were 13 bidders in the round, adding another $3,450,000 to the total from the previous round.

The top bid is for New York, and appears to have topped out at a bid of $216,955,000.

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The auction will end when there are no more bidders or bids withdrawn or waivers used to extend the auction.

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
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.