During second-quarter earnings calls with analysts, CEOs at several of the nation’s largest station groups were particularly bullish about the increased market demand for spectrum and the opportunities this creates for broadcasters as they transition to NextGen TV/ATSC 3.0.

“There's no question in my mind that we're sitting on a goldmine of spectrum, one that actually has proven to be increasing in value over time,” E.W. Scripps president and CEO Adam Symson told analysts Aug. 7. “And there's also no question that none of that value is reflected in our stock price. Scripps is one of the largest holders of broadcast spectrum. It was one of the reasons why we found the Ion acquisition so interesting. We are always looking at what the best and highest uses of our spectrum, and we'll continue to do so.”

This valuable spectrum was a major reason for Scripps' decision to turn Ion stations into sports duopolies, Symson added, but it could also be monetized through a Federal Communications Commission incentive auction.

“We’re always looking for the best and highest use of our spectrum,” he said. “Whether that’s turning stations that are Ion sticks into local stations in order to create high-margin duopolies, we will continue to look for the greatest opportunity. When there is an opportunity to monetize our spectrum, either through an incentive auction, as [FCC] Chairman Carr referenced [recently]...or otherwise, I am absolutely sure we will take full advantage to benefit our shareholders, our employees and the company's ability to continue to serve its mission.”

Those remarks followed comments by Sinclair president and CEO Chris Ripley during its Aug. 5 second-quarter earnings call touting the station group's lucrative spectrum assets.

Ripley noted that while the last auction in 2017 was a disappointment, there is now increased demand for spectrum, both from wireless carriers like T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon and from companies launching low-Earth-orbit satellite broadband services.

Putting this spectrum up for sale could occur, he added through a conventional auction, negotiated sales or “some sort of a lease arrangement to make capacity available.”

“So…the macro point is that this spectrum is very valuable,” he said. “I think it's easily at market, at auction, at a negotiated sale over $2.50 a megahertz-pop. I think it would be a floor valuation that I would see in any sort of transaction, which, by the way, implies $4.1 billion for Sinclair's portfolio in totality.

“It also underscores the necessity to fully roll out 3.0 and sunset 1.0,” Ripley stressed. “By sunsetting 1.0, we're able to free up a lot of spectrum, which could be used for additional programming and data casting, which we're working on at EdgeBeam.

EdgeBeam Wireless is the startup joint-venture company of E.W. Scripps, Gray Media, Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair focused on monetizing ATSC 3.0-based datacasting.

That means, Ripley added, “there is sort of a cost-benefit analysis that I think will go on once we sunset 1.0 and these commercial applications are available that EdgeBeam was working on. The industry will have to assess [if it] is it better to run those use cases over that spectrum and earn an annuity stream of income from it? Or is it better to transact and sell or at least to someone like Starlink.”

“I think all of those are possibilities, and it's really just an economic equation,” he concluded. “[I]t reinforces to me and the rest of the industry that we need to get the FCC to act and approve the NPRM [Notice of Proposed Rulemaking] in front of them on 3.0 and sunset 1.0 in order to open up these types of opportunities.”

In its Aug. 7 earnings call, Kevin Latek, executive vice president, chief legal and development officer and secretary at Gray Media also stressed the importance of the ATSC 3.0 transition in helping broadcasters maximize the value of their spectrum.

“We’re seeing a bit of a repeat from 15 years ago when AT&T was making some very strong pushes to have the FCC reclaim some broadcast spectrum for the reverse auction, so they could be redeployed to mobile,” he noted.

While “the spectrum needs were maybe satiated for a number of years there,” he added that “now, we’re hearing a lot more about spectrum needs again. At the same time, the broadcast industry is as you know well, transitioning to 3.0…[I]f there is a strong push in demand for the spectrum, which seems to be increasingly likely, and we have this new technology that allows us to repack more easily…there could be some spectrum reallocation with another auction for broadcasters.”

This, he explained, would allow Gray “to accelerate the 3.0 transition, get all the stations on to 3.0. That would be a fantastic wind at our sail, to allow us to do a lot more with less spectrum allocated to our service and provide better use for some of that spectrum. And it also would, we believe, provide the federal government with a backup timing system” to the current GPS system using ATSC 3.0 broadcasters via the Broadcast Positioning System (BPS).

“So it seems at least at this point that there are a lot of very favorable and complementary pressures to move spectrum monetization forward in the medium term,” he concluded.

George Winslow is the senior content producer for TV Tech. He has written about the television, media and technology industries for nearly 30 years for such publications as Broadcasting & Cable, Multichannel News and TV Tech. Over the years, he has edited a number of magazines, including Multichannel News International and World Screen, and moderated panels at such major industry events as NAB and MIP TV. He has published two books and dozens of encyclopedia articles on such subjects as the media, New York City history and economics.