Richi Jennings  Mixed blessing for Google in FCC's Auction 73
(and salmondance)  August 24, 2007 6:35 AM EDT It's only
bloomin' Friday's IT Blogwatch: in which the Federal
Communications Commission publishes the draft rules for the
700MHz auction. Not to mention the Salmon Dance...  Matt Hamblen
reports: Public comments are due to the Federal Communications
Commission by the end of the month on rules for a Jan. 16
auction of 700-MHz spectrum, which is expected to yield more
than $10 billion. One provision in the proposed rules calls for
keeping the identities of the bidders and the amounts of each
bid secret until each round of bidding is closed in order to
improve competition. The FCC approved the rules in July ... The
auction is officially being dubbed Auction 73. The spectrum was
made available by the freeing up of TV channels in the
conversion to digital TV by 2009. The auction's proceeds will go
to the U.S. Treasury. Some analysts have said the auction total
could reach $20 billion, with an active field