Following a year of silence, Central Michigan University officials have announced they will sell their Flint public broadcasting station for $14 million.
The sale is part of the Federal Communication Commission's spectrum auction. The auction is the first of its kind and was set in motion to clear broadcast bandwidth for broadband providers.
The university's Board of Trustees opted to participate in the auction in December 2015.
A mandated quiet period went into effect Jan. 12, 2016, which stopped university officials from commenting on the status of the auction. News of the sale came one day after the quiet period was lifted for participating broadcasters.
The sale will not impact CMU’s four other television stations or eight radio stations. The Flint station, WCMZ-TV, is operated remotely, doesn't have staff and the sale won’t affect students, said CMU Public Broadcasting General Manager Ken Kolbe.
The station will continue to air for three months following the close of the auction, he said.
A university press release states that 99 percent of WCMZ-TV viewers can be serviced by other PBS broadcasters. The Board of Trustees will decide how to allocate the $14 million to the university.
