DirecTV Group Inc., operator of the largest U.S. satellite television service, said it won’t bid in the auction of airwaves to be conducted by the Federal Communications Commission.
The El Segundo, Calif.- based company won’t participate either alone or with partners, according to a filing Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Douglas County-based EchoStar Communications Corp. spokesman Parker McConachie declined to comment on the auction. However, a source reportedly close to the company told the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday that the company would participate in the auction.
AT&T Inc., Verizon Wireless and Google Inc. are among the companies that plan to bid in the auction, which starts Jan. 24 and may raise as much as $15 billion. The spectrum will be freed when television broadcasters convert to digital signals in February 2009. Wireless carriers want the airwaves to help them offer high-speed data services, such as Web videos, on mobile handsets.
Last year, DirecTV formed a joint venture with EchoStar, the second-biggest U.S. satellite-TV provider, to participate in an FCC auction of higher-frequency airwaves. The companies dropped out of the auction without winning any of the spectrum licenses.
