No deal: Mayor rules out WYCC sale

[mvcg66b3r]

The next time you hear Mayor Rahm Emanuel talk about the city’s financial problems, remember the deal he just turned down.

In response to a suggestion here Thursday that could have netted City Colleges of Chicago a cool $474 million by auctioning off the license of its little-watched public television station, the mayor flatly rejected the idea — for all the wrong reasons.

The potential windfall is being dangled by the Federal Communications Commission, which seeks to entice broadcasters to turn over spectrum space to mobile wireless providers through a voluntary “reverse auction” early next year. According to the FCC, opening bid price for City Colleges of Chicago’s WYCC-Channel 20 would be $474,185,700.

Even if the actual sale price were a fraction of that, the result would still be a massive infusion of cash for the city’s financially-strapped public college system. There’s no telling whether such an offer will ever come along again.

http://www.robertfeder.com/2015/11/06/no-deal-mayor-rules-out-wycc-sale/

 

[mvcg66b3r]

From the "Big bang" thread in National TV:

An editorial in this morning's Chicago Tribune is calling for the city to get in on the spectrum sales action and sell the market's secondary PBS outlet (WYCC-20). Interesting reading:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...spectrum-wycc-fcc-auction-20151111-story.html

 

[mvcg66b3r]

Looks like WYCC is getting sold after all:

On second thought, City Colleges puts WYCC up for sale

On Thursday, the City Colleges board of trustees, with the blessing of City Hall, quietly authorized participation in the Federal Communications Commission incentive auction for WYCC’s piece of the broadcast spectrum. The news was buried in a small note on the board’s website.

It’s still not certain that the station will be sold. Under the auction rules, City Colleges has the right to reject any bids. But at least they’ll find out what the license can fetch.

http://www.robertfeder.com/2016/03/04/on-second-thought-city-colleges-puts-wycc-up-for-sale/