Auction Pledge to Broadcasters May Be Too High for Wireless

  • FCC releases payment pledge to TV station owners in auction
  • Airwaves sale now turns to bids from wireless companies
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U.S. officials announced a price tag of $86.4 billion for TV station airwaves being sold in a government auction, an amount that wireless providers may balk at -- sending the process into a second round.

The figure from the Federal Communications Commission amounts to a pledge to pay TV station owners such as Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal, 21st Century Fox Inc. and CBS Corp. for giving up airwaves that are to be sold to wireless providers.