By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable Online, 7-13-20
The FCC Monday (July 13) marked the end of the 39-month TV station repack into smaller spectrum space following the FCC’s auction of some of that broadcast spectrum for wireless back in 2017.
The FCC gave six stations an extension of their move until September but the key for the FCC, as it announced Monday, is that “all of the valuable low-band airwaves sold in the ground-breaking broadcast incentive auction are now available for wireless mobile broadband services.”
Almost 1,000 full power TV stations (987) – and twice as many low powers – were repacked in 10 phases. Congress allocated over $2 billion to pay for those moves by broadcasters, as well as for the re-tuning of headends by cable operators to receive the new channels. » Read More