“Auction 112,” a sell-off of construction permits for full-power television stations, is on track for a Tuesday, June 7, commencement, with its procedures and minimum opening bid amounts were outlined in an official Public Notice released in early February by the Commission.
Now, the FCC‘s Office of Economics and Analytics (OEA) and the Media Bureau have determined the number of applicants that are qualified to bid in the auction.
And, the qualified bidders include Gray Television, Sinclair Broadcast Group, Lilly Broadcasting and MeTV‘s parent.
The answer? Ten.
They’ll vie for 27 construction permits for full-power television stations.
Four applicants were judged as non-qualified.
The permits that will be available in Auction 112 are listed here.
The permits that will be available in Auction 112 are for channel allotments contained in
the Table of Television Allotments and assigned at the indicated communities for which there currently is not a licensee. Each permit awarded will be for one of the allotted-but-unlicensed channels currently contained in the TV Table.
The biggest market in Auction 112 is Syracuse, N.Y. There’s also CPs in Eureka-Arcata, Calif.; Fairbanks, Alaska; Yuma and Flagstaff, Ariz.; and Jackson, Wyo.
Bidders will first be able to access the bidding system for the mock auction at Noon
ET on Thursday, June 2. Access to the mock auction bidding system will remain available until Noon ET on Monday, June 6. Access to the Auction 112 bidding system will open at 1pm Eastern on Monday, June 6, and will remain open to bidders until the conclusion of bidding in Auction 112.
All qualified bidders in Auction 112 will have the opportunity to participate in the mock
auction on Friday, June 3. Details can be found here: DA-22-546A1.
Those qualified bidders range from the aforementioned The qualified bidders include Gray Television, Sinclair Broadcast Group, Lilly Broadcasting and MeTV’s parent, Weigel Broadcasting, to Bismarck, N.D.-based Bektel‘s BEK Sports Network Inc.
Other bidders include the Ravi Kapur-led Major Market Broadcasting; the Brian and Patricia Lane-led Marquee Broadcasting; Radiant Life Ministries; Fresno-based Ventura Media Communications; and the Paul Koplin-led Venture Technologies Group.
What were the four unqualified bidders? They are comprised of Estrella Media, Redwood Empire Public Television (parent of KEET-13 in Eureka-Arcata, Calif.), New York DMA low-power TV station licensee Renard Broadcasting Corp., and RxDIO.com LLC, parent of a radio operation in Tonopah, Nev.
The FCC did not offer commentary on the unqualified bidders.
