Dish May Win MVDDS Spectrum

[Scott Greczkowski]

I just checked out the current status of the FCC Auction for MVDDS Spectrum, and surprise, Echostar's SOUTH.COM is in the lead in the bidding war.

http://auctionbidding.fcc.gov/bidding/results.htm

You can follow the auction at http://auctionbidding.fcc.gov/bidding/home.htm

If Echostars SOUTH.COM wins the spectrum, I would not expect them to not use it (remember in the past Echostar and DirecTV were against Northpoint gaining access to the MVDDS spectrum as they said it would cause interferance with existing DBS frequencies) Instead if Echostar wins I expect them to uplink local Digital Channels, this would free up the satellite spectrum greatly and would enable Dish to broadcast Digital Locals by community.

 

[Bruce]

South is not in the lead someone named DTV Norwich with about 30 million more bid then south.
Who the Hell is DTV Norwich?

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Hmm no idea how that is, Dish's South.COM was in the lead before.

Interesting (This is a live auction)

 

[Chris Freeland]

I agree if E*'s South.com wins the auction that E* will use this for local digital TV channels, plus they will also use this for a high-speed internet service that they can package with their satellite tv service just like cable and they may be able to offer true VOD too, all of these to supplement their satellite tv service.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I wish I could find out who DTV NORWICH actually was (and I wish who owns the other 51% of South.COM.

I have searched and search for this information and have been highly unsuccessful.

I would not be surprised if a company with 3 letters (SBC) owned the other 51% of south.com (which is NOT a website.

 

[video62]

Interesting. I cannot tell from the "Auction 53" page when the auction is supposed to end- anyone know?

Answer:

Auction Close

There is no preset number of rounds. The auction remains open for as long as bidding continues. When an entire round has elapsed without bidding activity on any license or permit, the auction closes.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I believe it goes until everyone says, sorry folks I am not bidding anymore.

This is not receiving much coverage by any of the satellite sites, but I believe this auction could reshape the future of Satellite Television.

 

[Bruce]

I agree,and I hope south.com does not win,I like the idea of another fish in the bucket for competition reasons either for TV watching or Broadband.

 

[Bruce]

By the way the auction is done for today until Tuesday with DTV Norwich(who are they)ahead by almost 40 Million dollars and they are the top bidders in at least the top 10 markets(License).

 

[928gt]

I think the bidding is for different regions. I noticed "South" got Charlotte, other areas of NC (so that makes me happy) plus other small/medium areas, BUT I also see the DTV got the Major Cities, i.e. NY and LA.

Of course I could be wrong but check the winnings bids and they are all tied to different cities... maybe someone more knowlegable can explain how this works.

 

[Alan Gordon]

MDS Operations, Inc. bid $20,000 for my DMA, but I'm still wondering why I should care. What will this do for me?!


~Alan

 

[bbriggs]

I wish I could find out who DTV NORWICH actually was (and I wish who owns the other 51% of South.COM.

I have searched and search for this information and have been highly unsuccessful.

It's not too hard to find some of this stuff. It appears a single guy, George S. Blumenthal, is bidding under the name DTV NORWHICH without any other investors. Sounds as if he may be as well heeled as Charlie: he and a partner sold an early mobile phone company "Cellular Communications" to two buyers for 3.5 billion. Turns out he tried to oust Rupert Murdoch in the UK with a bunch of cable companies banded together into the NTL (which nearly succeeded but declared bankrupcy.)

All I know about South.COM is that it is headed by Phanie Sundheim who also heads Alta Wireless - another company backed by Echostar.

I picked up most of this stuff from broadcastingcable.com, which gives you temporary access for free to their information.

 

[Stargazer]

So if a local business in their own DMA market bid on this spectrum they could broadcast their own local channels in that market to the customers to make a profit instead of Dish Network? Or would there be some issues with that? What about the hardware that would be needed? Perhaps Dish Network would make those networks in that market have it exclusive to satellite and cable but may not be legal to do. Or perhaps broadband for that DMA in addition to the local channels or their own package including some cable channels, networks, and internet for one price that is competitive. This could be interesting if this is possible.

 

[red hazard]

MVDDS and Broadband IP Service

MVDDS will not be used for wireless broadband IP service. As explained in an earlier thread, MVDDS uses directional antennas that transmit from a point north of the service area in a southerly direction to avoid interference issues with DBS. If the customer's antenna also transmitted, it would/could cause interference with some DBS dishes north of it. Of course, an MVDDS provider wanting to provide IP service could use dial-up for uploading but that type of hybrid service has never been popular.

If E*'s SOUTH.COM does not win the auction, you can bet that E* will again start their rheoteric about possible interference issues...something they have been silent about lately. Speaking of interference, my main concern is what happens if you are one of the "few" customers that actually does have interference? The FCC's track record for expeditious investigation and resolution is not particularly good if one looks back at the Citizen Band days. Hopefully (and hope is not a method) interference issues will be rare.

 

[Stargazer]

If they get the spectrum they dont say anything and if they dont get it they will then say something such as "we wanted to buy it so that we could prevent interference of our spectrum"

 

[mike123abc]

Well they are required to do something with it or they will end up losing the spectrum.

 

[Bruce]

Well the auction back and South.com just went nuts and are ahead in this by about $40 million.

 

[Bruce]

What could be done with this spectrum,TV broadcast,as many channels as we get now from dish,more,less,HDTV,broadband what do think the plans are for the spectrum.

 

[Bruce]

Well at the end of the last round DTV Norwich started to outbid south.com on the top License's in the Top DMA's til the round ended.Looks like a pissing match between the two.

 

[Bruce]

Charlie back on top $80 mil vs. $20 mil.