Senate Seeks FCC Documents on Dish AWS-3 Role

The Senate Commerce Committee has asked for documents from the Federal Communications Commission related to bidding in the AWS-3 spectrum auction by Dish-affiliated companies. The FCC said that it had accepted spectrum applications for winning bids submitted by those companies, Northstar and SNR, but said it is far from finished with vetting those bids and whether they should qualify for some $3 billion in bidding credits extended to designated entities. In a release issued under the headline "Commerce Probes $3 Billion Collusion Concern in FCC Spectrum Auction," Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD) signaled that the he had significant questions and concerns about whether the bidding strategy by Dish and its affiliates squared with both the letter and the intent of the law.