After chugging along with per-round bid total boosts in the $20 million range for many days, round 20 of stage four of the forward portion of the FCC spectrum auction saw a big jump of about $75 million.
The round 20 total was $18,791,387, up from $18,715,312,391 in round 19.
The auction has already met its two key clearing targets and broadcasters already know how much they are getting: About $10 billion, so the auction will end at the end of the current forward auction stage.
Related: FCC Is Boosting Per-Round Auction Asking Prices
But the auction can't close until there is no more bidding in any of the 416 markets. There continues to be demand in smaller markets. In Harrisonburg, Va., for instance, there were bids on 16 blocks, with only seven available, and bids on 18 blocks in Guam for seven available blocks.
There was also activity in market 10, Houston, where there were five blocks bid on and only four available.
