A Third of FCC Auction Opportunities went Unsold

[davideduardo]

Here is attorney David Oxenford's view on the auction and FCC local ownership rules:

Auction for New AM and FM Channels Ends with Almost a Third of the Channels Unsold – Does the Result Say Something About the FCC’s Local Ownership Rules?​

The FCC this week announced the end of Auction 109, which offered for sale construction permits for 139 new stations – 4 AM stations in the St. Louis area whose licenses were surrendered by the prior licensee, and 135 new FM channels. 97 of the channels were sold but 42, including all of the AM stations, went unsold in the auction.

Auction for New AM and FM Channels Ends with Almost a Third of the Channels Unsold – Does the Result Say Something About the FCC's Local Ownership Rules?

The FCC this week announced the end of Auction 109, which offered for sale construction permits for 139 new stations – 4 AM stations in the St. Louis area

www.broadcastlawblog.com

 

[Harvey_Dogg]

Mostly real dogs and tickets to bankruptcy are those frequencies. The best channels were licensed a very long time ago.
Also, times have changed. I see local ads on my Roku and Firestick.

 

[b-turner]

Most of the remains are in very small population areas. About the only hope of cashing in on such a facility is to be an 'in your way' station that can paid off to turn in the license. You build out at a minimum, say, 100 watts at 30 feet and run a computer in a closet. That can backfire because if you never build out to 100% power it can be challenged to show cause why the Class C1,2 or 3 shouldn't be reclassed as an A. Lots of the worst are especially C3 and C2.