Originally Posted by radiotvlaw

Ditto Clue's comments - the FCC regularly auctions spectrum (the late 90's auction of spectrum is widely credited with creating that long gone federal surplus at turn of the century) - It is a market driven process with plenty of anti-collusion safeguards in place. A good idea for slots - but, the short term downside is the "winner" needing to recapture their purchase price from pax fares - maybe, like the FCC does, restrict the total number you can acquire in one "market" to ensure there is a diversity of carriers (which should in turn create price competition).