Computer Mogul Michael Dell Stands to Reap Billions From FCC Auction

Michael Dell has been scooping up local TV stations across the country in recent years. Now, he stands to make as much as $4 billion from a government effort to buy the airwaves used by those stations.

In more than a dozen deals since 2011, a company controlled by Dell’s investment fund has spent about $80 million on independent TV stations, according to government records. The purchases include about $5 million for a Spanish-language broadcaster in Seattle and $7.25 million for a collection of Pittsburgh-area stations that aired a daily noon Mass from a local Catholic church and reruns of “Roseanne.” Those stations collectively broadcast over airwaves that could be valued at as much as $4.2 billion, based on prices recently set by the Federal Communications Commission. The agency is gearing up to run an auction to buy those airwaves, so they can be resold to wireless carriers.