FCC Data Release Shows Extremes of Incentive Auction, Meltzer Says
Formerly confidential incentive auction broadcaster bidding information released by the FCC Monday (see 1904220054) reveals the “highs and lows” some stations experienced during the auction, Wiley Rein broadcast attorney Ari Meltzer blogged. The final station in the auction, Mid-State Television’s…
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WMFD-TV Mansfield, Ohio, was initially frozen in first round of the reverse auction at $71 million, only to have its offered price drop to $17 million in Round 43 of Stage 4, Meltzer said Monday in a post emailed the following day. WMFD's price later dropped to $7 million and then nothing, which Mid State declined. Of the 175 stations with winning bids in the auction, the overwhelming majority -- 160 -- didn't have their final price frozen in the auction until the final stage, Meltzer said.