H Block Update: Total Has Topped $1.2 Billion

With 40 rounds completed, the Federal Communications Commission's H block auction bid total stands at $1,214,954,200, with 95 new bids in the last round and all 176 licenses having drawn multiple bids. Dish has pledged that the auction will hit at least an aggregate $1,564,000,000, which it promised in exchange for getting a waiver for more flexible use of an adjacent spectrum band, which it said it would need in order to bid in the H block auction. Licenses in the top three markets currently represent well over a third of all the money bid so far. The bid for spectrum in New York is $216,955,000; LA is $166,810,000; and Chicago is 87,248,000.