Decision Time on the Incentive Auction

Oct 16 wraps up an important week for the Incentive Auction with the release of two critical items: the Application Procedures Public Notice and the final opening bid prices for broadcast stations.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler called this a “watershed moment” for auction participants, and he’s exactly right. Broadcasters and potential forward auction participants now have in their hands all of the information they will need to decide whether to participate in the auction. We have set 6 p.m. on December 18, 2015, as the date by which interested broadcasters must file their applications; forward auction bidders must file by 6 p.m. on January 28, 2016. After years of planning and deliberations, this thing is real.