Four large telecom companies won the bulk of the available licenses to operate their wireless services on the upcoming 600MHz band, once UHF TV channels occupying part of it vacate. But what exactly did AT&T, Comcast, Dish, and T-Mobile buy and where? Mosaik, a mapping firm, produced maps (courtesy Fierce Wireless) showing exactly where the four companies won 600MHz spectrum in the recent auction. The differences are striking. T-Mobile effectively won the right to launch new service almost everywhere in the country, in part because it acquired a huge number of cheap, low-demand licenses in largely rural areas.

Dish’s plans for its spectrum remain a complete mystery, while Comcast’s winning bids are entirely within areas where it provides cable service. AT&T, although already holding a large supply of low band frequencies, apparently needs more capacity in larger cities, and paid handsomely to get it.

AT&T

Most of AT&T’s winning bids cover larger cities where it already operates an extensive cellular network. Among the areas where AT&T can expand service: Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore, St. Louis, Birmingham, Mobile, Tampa, Atlanta, Dallas, Phoenix, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Seattle, Minneapolis and Little Rock. But AT&T also grabbed licenses for rural western Massachusetts, central Ohio, and southern Michigan.

Comcast

Comcast’s winning bids consisted of 10MHz of spectrum, except in Nashville where it nabbed 20MHz. Comcast grabbed enough spectrum to cover every city in Florida except Tampa (where Charter provides cable service). The cable company focused heavily on east and west coast bids, winning spectrum across much of the Pacific Northwest, the Boston-NYC-DC corridor, and Illinois and Indiana. The only downside is that 10MHz is not a lot of spectrum to support a large wireless service, but then Comcast does not require that at this time, because it will rely primarily on a shared arrangement with Verizon Wireless to power Xfinity Mobile.

Dish Network

What Dish intends to do with its spectrum remains a complete mystery, but it grabbed a significant amount of it in New York City and its nearby suburbs, including Connecticut. It also won respectable quantities of frequencies in Alaska, California, Florida, Puerto Rico, Seattle and Portland, and several midwestern and south-central cities.

T-Mobile USA

T-Mobile published a similar map as part of its press package claiming victory in the spectrum auction. This map better highlights T-Mobile’s extensive spectrum wins in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. If T-Mobile uses it all, it will command similar coverage areas comparable to Verizon and AT&T. T-Mobile will manage this without any need to merge with anyone else, as AT&T and Sprint have historically argued in their past failed efforts to acquire T-Mobile.

Verizon Communications announced a deal Tuesday with a leading optical fiber manufacturer to supply up to 12.4 million miles of fiber cable annually for a large buildout of Verizon’s fiber network to power its forthcoming 5G wireless service.

Verizon’s $1.05 billion agreement with Corning, Inc., of Corning N.Y., will guarantee Verizon will have an ample supply of optical fiber available from 2018-2020 at a time when the company noticed a fiber cable shortage was causing problems for its current FiOS/5G fiber buildout now underway in Boston.

“This new architecture is designed to improve Verizon’s 4G LTE coverage, speed the deployment of 5G, and deliver high-speed broadband to homes and businesses of all sizes,” Verizon said in a statement. But Verizon did not make it very clear the expansion will primarily benefit Verizon Wireless, not Verizon Communications’ FiOS fiber to the home service.

Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam, appearing exclusively on CNBC this morning, rejected the notion that the fiber buildout would represent a restart of Verizon’s long-suspended expansion of its FiOS fiber to the home service.

“When we deployed FiOS we would run a fiber cable into a neighborhood with six or eight strands in it,” McAdam said. “Now we’re going to drop off six or eight strands to every street light in every neighborhood so that allows you to deliver a gigabit of thruput into the home and allows you to do things like intelligent transportation, electric grid management, and water system management. You hear a lot about autonomous cars and things like that today that don’t work without 5G.”

Verizon’s Boston project represents the current CEO’s vision: a wireless-based network supported by an extensive fiber network. But instead of connecting fiber to homes, McAdam’s network connects fiber to tens of thousands of palm-sized “small cells” and other wireless infrastructure that will deliver services to individual neighborhoods instead of individual homes.

Critics still question whether Verizon’s 5G network will be able to sustain its speed and capacity claims outside of testing labs, especially as shared wireless network infrastructure faces future usage demands. Fiber to the home service does not require customers to share bandwidth the same way a wireless connection would and can manage much higher capacity.

Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam and Corning chairman and CEO Wendel Weeks appeared jointly on CNBC to discuss Verizon’s $1.05 billion agreement with Corning to guarantee up to 12.4 million miles of optical fiber a year from 2018-2020. (11:24)

As the wireless industry grabs a bigger chunk of the television dial, the remaining free over-the-air stations are going to be on the move starting next year. More than 900 American television stations will get new channel numbers after the move is complete, all to squeeze signals into the unchanged VHF and diminished UHF dial.

The folks at Rabbit Ears have a handy tool that will guide you through the changes, and they are enormous. Just use the drop-down box next to “Market” and find your city. Here at Stop the Cap! HQ, all but two stations in Rochester, N.Y., are getting new channel positions:

TV station reassignments as a result of the channel repack for Rochester, NY. The first two columns show the new vs. current actual channel number.

Most viewers won’t notice a big difference because the FCC is allowing stations to continue to market themselves with a virtual channel number than usually dates back to before the migration to digital TV broadcasting. But the channel changes can still be important for viewers using an antenna, especially if your local station(s) migrate into the VHF or UHF bands where they might not have been before. Two different antennas are sometimes required to get good reception from both bands. The traditional “rabbit ears” indoor telescoping antenna is usually designed for VHF reception, while small loop antennas work better for UHF. Various other antenna configurations can work for both bands, some better than others. Outdoor aerials can be designed to receive VHF, UHF or both. You may need an antenna upgrade if your antenna isn’t designed to receive the station(s) you want to see after they move.

T-Mobile’s 600MHz coverage map — assuming it builds out its full spectrum purchase.

One of the most consequential and visible spectrum auctions ever is over, and it will have a significant impact on broadcasters, wireless carriers, and the future competitive landscape of the wireless industry.

The world’s first “incentive auction” paid television stations to voluntarily vacate or move their assigned channels to make room for the wireless industry’s desire for more spectrum to power wireless data services. Up for bid was 70MHz of spectrum currently used by UHF television stations. A total of 50 winning wireless bidders collectively agreed to pay $19.8 billion to acquire that space. The biggest winner was T-Mobile USA, which is paying almost half the amount of total proceeds to acquire 45% of the spectrum available in the current auction. T-Mobile managed to acquire enough spectrum to cover 100% of the United States and Puerto Rico with an average of 31MHz of available spectrum nationwide, quadrupling its current inventory of important “low-band” spectrum, which is excellent for covering rural areas and inside buildings.

Consumers are likely to benefit as early as later this year when T-Mobile begins lighting up cellular service utilizing the newly available spectrum. Unfortunately, customers will have to buy new devices compatible with the new bands of frequencies.

Having the spectrum alone is not enough to beef up T-Mobile’s network. The company will have to invest in a large number of new cell sites, particularly in outlying areas, to eventually rival the coverage of AT&T and Verizon Wireless. But with an ample supply of 600MHz spectrum, T-Mobile could soon challenge AT&T and Verizon Wireless’ perceived network and coverage superiority. After this auction, AT&T continues to hold the largest portfolio of <1GHz spectrum — 70.5MHz. Verizon is second with 46.2MHz and T-Mobile has moved up in its third place position with 41.1MHz.

Although the FCC claims the current auction was among the highest grossing ever conducted by the FCC, industry observers claim companies got the new frequencies at a bargain price. A 2015 spectrum auction attracted $44.9 billion in bids, more than double the amount bid this year. The average price wireless companies paid per megahertz per person this year was just shy of 90¢, compared with $2.72 in 2015.

Where bargains are to be had, Charles Ergen and his Dish Network satellite company are sure to follow.

Few companies have as much unused wireless spectrum in their portfolio as Dish. Ergen loves to bid in auctions and has also picked up excess spectrum available on the cheap from other satellite companies that have since gone dark or bankrupt. Dish spent $6.2 billion on spectrum during the latest auction, puzzling investors who drove Dish’s share price down wondering what the company intends to do with the frequencies.

Investors were hoping Dish would eventually sell its spectrum portfolio at a profit, something that could still happen if other wireless carriers see a deal to be made. But some Wall Street analysts fear Dish might actually build a large wireless network of its own to offer wireless broadband service. Wall Street dislikes big spending projects and the competition it could bring to the marketplace, potentially driving down prices.

The other possibility is that Dish is making itself look more attractive to a possible buyer like Verizon, which could acquire the satellite company to win cheaper cable programming prices for its FiOS TV and an attractive amount of wireless spectrum for Verizon Wireless. The nation’s biggest wireless carrier notably did not participate in this spectrum auction.

Another unusual bidder was Comcast. Craig Moffett from Wall Street firm MoffettNathanson called Comcast’s $1.7 billion bid “half-hearted” and said it was unlikely to be enough spectrum for the company to begin offering its own wireless service. Comcast plans to rely on Verizon Wireless to power its wireless service, at least initially.

Comcast targeted its bids only in cities where it already provides cable service, which also nixes the theory Comcast and Charter might have been working together to form a cellular joint venture. Moffett expected Comcast would seek at least 20MHz of spectrum across most of the country. It ended up with 10MHz and only in select cities. Moffett thinks that may signal Comcast’s interest in buying an existing wireless carrier is still on the table.

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An unprecedented 175 free over-the-air television signals will sign off on their current channels for good in return for an average of tens of millions in compensation paid by Comcast, Dish Networks, and various wireless companies that want their frequencies to bolster their mobile networks.

The UHF dial compression comes courtesy of the latest FCC spectrum auction, which allowed bidders to entice over-the-air television stations to give up their frequencies to make room for wireless companies trying to bolster their 4G LTE networks. At least 957 stations across the country will have to move to new channels as the FCC compresses the TV dial to make room for wireless providers.

Virtually all the affected stations won’t disappear from free over-the-air TV for good, however. Of the 175 stations, 133 plan to make a deal with another local station to relaunch as a secondary digital channel, 29 will move from a UHF channel to a new VHF channel (2-13), and one channel will move from a high VHF channel to a low numbered one.

The move was very profitable to some major market stations, where the TV dial is already crowded with signals. WWTO-TV, a TBN affiliate airing Christian TV programming in LaSalle/Chicago, Ill. won the highest amount of any station in the country to put its transmitter off the air – $304 million. The biggest non-commercial auction winner was New Jersey’s Public Broadcasting Authority, which won $194 million to switch off WNJN in Montclair, N.Y.

The winners are 50 wireless bidders who want the frequencies to improve their wireless networks by increasing the amount of spectrum they can use in the coveted 600MHz band. Signals at these frequencies do a better job penetrating buildings and around natural obstacles and terrain. The result will be improved coverage and signal quality, with fewer dropped calls.

“The conclusion of the world’s first incentive auction is a major milestone in the FCC’s long history as steward of the nation’s airwaves,” said FCC chairman Ajit Pai. “Consumers are the real beneficiaries, as broadcasters invest new resources in programming and service, and additional wireless spectrum opens the way to greater competition and innovation in the mobile broadband marketplace.”

Stations can begin vacating their frequencies this year. Among the 957 stations that have to change channel numbers, the first of a series of channel changes will begin on Nov. 30, 2018. The last changes should take place just over three years from now.

Are you affected? Here is the list of channels going off the air or relocating to a different band:

Albany-Schenectady-Troy, N.Y.

• WCDC-TV UHF Going off the air

Augusta, Ga.

• WAGT-TV UHF Going off the air

Baltimore, Md.

• WUTB-TV UHF Going off the air

Boston, Mass.

• WBIN-TV UHF Going off the air
• WDPX-TV UHF Going off the air
• WFXZ-CD UHF Going off the air
• WGBH-TV UHF Moving to Low VHF Channel
• WLVI-TV UHF Going off the air
• WMFP-TV UHF Going off the air
• WYCN-CD UHF Going off the air
• WYDN-TV UHF Going off the air

Buffalo, N.Y.

• WIVB-TV UHF Going off the air
• WNYB-TV UHF Moving to Low VHF Channel
• WVTT-CD UHF Moving to High VHF Channel

Burlington, Vt.-Plattsburgh, N.Y.

• WNNE-TV UHF Going off the air
• WVTA-TV UHF Going off the air

Charleston-Huntington, W.V.

• WPBO-TV UHF Going off the air
• WTSF-TV UHF Moving to High VHF Channel

Charlotte, N.C.

• WLNN-CD UHF Going off the air
• WMYT-TV UHF Going off the air
• WTBL-CD UHF Going off the air

Charlottesville, Va.

• WVIR-TV UHF Moving to Low VHF Channel

Chattanooga, Tenn.

• WNGH-TV UHF Moving to Low VHF Channel
• WTNB-CD UHF Moving to Low VHF Channel

Chicago, Ill.

• WOCH-CD UHF Going off the air
• WPWR-TV UHF Going off the air
• WSNS-TV UHF Going off the air
• WWTO-TV High VHF Channel Going off the air
• WXFT-TV UHF Going off the air
• WYCC-TV UHF Going off the air

Cincinnati, Oh.

• WOTH-CD UHF Going off the air

Cleveland-Akron, Oh.

• WAOH-CD UHF Going off the air
• WDLI-TV UHF Going off the air
• WGGN-TV UHF Moving to Low VHF Channel
• WRLM-TV UHF Going off the air
• WUAB-TV UHF Going off the air

Columbus, Ga.

• WJSP-TV UHF Moving to Low VHF Channel

Columbus, Oh.

• WOUC-TV UHF Moving to Low VHF Channel
• WSFJ-TV UHF Going off the air

Dallas-Ft. Worth, Tex.

• KATA-CD UHF Going off the air

Dayton, Oh.

• WBDT-TV UHF Going off the air
• WKOI-TV UHF Going off the air

Flint-Saginaw-Bay City, Mich.

• WCMZ-TV UHF Going off the air

Greensboro-High Point-Winston, N.C.

• WCWG-TV UHF Going off the air
• WLXI-TV UHF Going off the air

Greenville-New Bern-Washington, N.C.

• WFXI-TV High VHF Channel Going off the air

Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C.

• WGGS-TV UHF Moving to Low VHF Channel
• WRET-TV UHF Going off the air
• WYCW-TV UHF Going off the air

Harrisburg-Lancaster-Lebanon-York, Pa.

• WGCB-TV UHF Going off the air
• WLYH-TV UHF Going off the air
• WPMT-TV UHF Going off the air

Harrisonburg, Va.

• WAZH-CD UHF Going off the air
• WVPY-TV UHF Going off the air

Hartford-New Haven, Conn.

• WCTX-TV UHF Going off the air
• WEDY-TV UHF Going off the air
• WRDM-CD UHF Going off the air
• WUVN-TV UHF Going off the air

Huntsville-Decatur-Florence, Ala.

• WHDF-TV UHF Moving to Low VHF Channel

Indianapolis, Ind.

• WCLJ-TV UHF Going off the air
• WHMB-TV UHF Moving to High VHF Channel
• WNDY-TV UHF Going off the air

Johnstown-Altoona, Pa.

• WKBS-TV UHF Moving to Low VHF Channel

Knoxville, Tenn.

• WAGV-TV UHF Going off the air

Lansing, Mich.

• WHTV-TV UHF Going off the air
• WLNS-TV UHF Going off the air

Lima, Oh.

• WTLW-TV UHF Moving to Low VHF Channel

Los Angeles, Calif.

• KAZA-TV UHF Going off the air
• KBEH-TV UHF Going off the air
• KDOC-TV UHF Moving to High VHF Channel
• KILM-TV UHF Going off the air
• KJLA-TV UHF Going off the air
• KLCS-TV UHF Going off the air
• KNET-CD UHF Going off the air
• KOCE-TV UHF Going off the air
• KRCA-TV UHF Going off the air
• KSFV-CD UHF Going off the air
• KVCR-TV UHF Moving to Low VHF Channel
• KWHY-TV UHF Moving to Low VHF Channel

Louisville, Ky.

• WBKI-TV UHF Going off the air
• WWJS-CD UHF Going off the air

Madison, Wisc.

• WISC-TV UHF Moving to High VHF Channel

Memphis, Tenn.

• WWTW-TV UHF Going off the air

Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.

• WDLP-CD UHF Going off the air
• WIMP-CD UHF Going off the air
• WLPH-CD UHF Going off the air

Milwaukee, Wisc.

• WCGV-TV UHF Going off the air
• WMLW-TV UHF Going off the air
• WMVT-TV UHF Going off the air
• WVCY-TV UHF Going off the air

Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.

• KCCO-TV High VHF Channel Going off the air

Monterey-Salinas, Calif.

• KSMS-TV UHF Going off the air

Myrtle Beach-Florence, S.C.

• WGSI-CD High VHF Channel Going off the air

New York, N.Y.

• WEBR-CD UHF Going off the air
• WMBQ-CD UHF Going off the air
• WMUN-CD UHF Going off the air
• WNBC-TV UHF Going off the air
• WNJN-TV UHF Going off the air
• WNYJ-TV UHF Going off the air
• WRNN-TV UHF Going off the air
• WTBY-TV UHF Going off the air
• WXTV-TV UHF Going off the air
• WZME-TV UHF Going off the air

Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne, Fla.

• WACX-TV UHF Moving to High VHF Channel
• WTGL-TV UHF Going off the air

Philadelphia, Pa.

• WFMZ-TV UHF Going off the air
• WGTW-TV UHF Going off the air
• WLVT-TV UHF Going off the air
• WMCN-TV UHF Going off the air
• WNJT-TV UHF Going off the air
• WTSD-CD UHF Going off the air
• WTVE-TV UHF Going off the air
• WUVP-TV UHF Going off the air
• WWSI-TV UHF Going off the air
• WYBE-TV UHF Going off the air

Pittsburgh, Pa.

• WBOA-CD UHF Going off the air
• WEMW-CD UHF Going off the air
• WEPA-CD UHF Going off the air
• WNNB-CD UHF Going off the air
• WPCP-CD UHF Going off the air
• WQED-TV High VHF Moving to Low VHF Channel
• WQVC-CD UHF Going off the air
• WVTX-CD UHF Going off the air

Providence, R.I.-New Bedford, Mass.

• WLWC-TV UHF Going off the air
• WRIW-CD UHF Going off the air
• WSBE-TV UHF Moving to Low VHF Channel

Puerto Rico

• WDWL-TV UHF Going off the air
• WELU-TV UHF Going off the air
• WIRS-TV UHF Going off the air
• WKPV-TV UHF Going off the air
• WMEI-TV UHF Going off the air
• WSJU-TV UHF Going off the air
• WTCV-TV UHF Going off the air

Raleigh-Durham, N.C.

• WFPX-TV UHF Going off the air
• WHFL-CD UHF Moving to High VHF Channel
• WNCN-TV UHF Moving to High VHF Channel
• WRAY-TV UHF Going off the air
• WZGS-CD UHF Going off the air

Richmond-Petersburg, Va.

• WUPV-TV UHF Moving to High VHF Channel

Roanoke-Lynchburg, Va.

• WFFP-TV UHF Going off the air

Rockford, Ill.

• WIFR-TV UHF Going off the air

San Diego, Calif.

• K35DG-TV UHF Going off the air
• KSEX-CD UHF Going off the air

San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, Calif.

• KEMO-TV UHF Going off the air
• KEXT-CD UHF Going off the air
• KMPT-TV UHF Going off the air
• KOFY-TV UHF Going off the air
• KQEH-TV UHF Going off the air
• KRCB-TV UHF Moving to Low VHF Channel
• KRON-TV UHF Moving to High VHF Channel
• KTLN-TV UHF Going off the air
• KTNC-TV UHF Going off the air
• KTSF-TV UHF Going off the air

Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-San Caballero, Calif.

• KMMA-CD UHF Going off the air

Springfield, Mo.

• KSPR-TV UHF Going off the air

Springfield-Holyoke, Mass.

• WGBY-TV UHF Moving to High VHF Channel

Syracuse, N.Y.

• WNYI-TV UHF Moving to High VHF Channel

Tampa-St. Petersburg-Sarasota, Fla.

• WUSF-TV UHF Going off the air
• WTTA-TV UHF Going off the air

Tri-Cities, Tenn.

• WAPG-CD UHF Going off the air
• WMSY-TV UHF Going off the air
• WSBN-TV UHF Going off the air

Tyler-Longview, Tex.

• KCEB-TV UHF Going off the air

Washington, D.C.

• WAZF-CD UHF Going off the air
• WDCA-TV UHF Going off the air
• WDCW-TV UHF Going off the air
• WJAL-TV UHF Going off the air
• WMDO-CD UHF Going off the air
• WNVC-TV UHF Going off the air
• WNVT-TV UHF Going off the air
• WZDC-CD UHF Going off the air

West Palm Beach-Ft. Pierce, Fla.

• WFGC-TV UHF Moving to High VHF Channel
• WXEL-TV UHF Going off the air

Wilkes Barre-Scranton, Pa.

• WKBN-TV UHF Going off the air
• WVIA-TV UHF Going off the air