Outfoxed, The FCC Changes Its Rules

[Commentary] The Federal Communications Commission this week notified the world that it would be offering two new VHF channels in New Jersey and Delaware at auction on Feb. 15, 2011. If you want to get in on the bidding, you'll have to come up with the minimum bid of $200,000 for each by Jan. 21. Why would the FCC be dropping in two TV stations in the crowded Northeast corridor at a time when it is trying to recover broadcast spectrum there so it can feed the insatiable wireless broadband beast? The simple answer is, it's the law. But the real answer may be that the FCC is trying to block a group of clever broadcasters from taking advantage of that same law to move two TV stations from Nevada and Wyoming where they are worth a combined $1.2 million into the New York and Philadelphia markets where they would be worth many millions more.