Continuing this week’s spate of announcements, Sinclair Broadcast Group Thursday said it expects to get $313 million from selling spectrum in the FCC’s broadcast auction.
The company said in a statement it does not expect the sale to produce any material changes for the station group.
Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker said in a newsletter the amount “was below our estimated 'in the middle' payout of $621MM, which does not come as a surprise."
“Recall that the reverse auction cleared at a substantially lower number than we had previously thought ($10B vs our estimated $30B). Both (Gray Television) and (Fox Television Stations)… released proceeds that were below our estimates, while (Tribune) was the exception,” she said. “As more and more of these releases come out, we think the auction 'overhang’ on the space will dissipate."
The announcements came after the FCC earlier this week waived the prohibition on auction-eligible stations making such information public.
