Forward Auction Is Next

The FCC will start the forward auction on August 16, 2016, roughly six weeks after the close of the reverse auction at the end of June. And instead of the original 99 forward auction bidders that filed paperwork to become eligible, only 62 made it to the finish line by ponying up the necessary funds to begin round one.

The television broadcast industry are watching and waiting to see if the 62 bidders can help the FCC raise just north of $88 billion in order to pay provisionally winning TV stations from the reverse auction and reimburse repack costs to the stations that remain. Some doubt whether the forward auction will produce those funds. We lack a crystal ball (or a supercomputer) and will therefore not wager a guess. But if the forward auction starting in August does not raise the funds, we do know that the auction itself will enter round two, where the FCC will set a new clearing target, reset the dollar amounts, and notify the provisional winners from the reverse auction that bidding has begun once more.

We know you’re fighting off the effects of auction fatigue, but hang in there.