Auction Could Re-Write Local Media Definition

Billions of dollars are likely to change hands during the FCC’s spectrum incentive auction. The money could be used to transform local media nationwide.

Telecoms have referred to a “spectrum crisis,” as they try to sate the public’s appetite for bandwidth to deliver streaming video, as well as texts and social media to consumers.

Auction proceeds could be used to build 21st-century infrastructure for public interest media, writes Christopher Daggett, president and chief executive officer of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation in an Op Ed for the New York Times. States, communities and universities that decided to auction some or all of their television spectrum will have a chance to invest in new ways to meet the public’s information needs, he writes. Continue Reading