700 MHz: Bidding focus changes, action remains slow: E-Block license covering American Samoa gets active

Bidding remained slow during the last half of day 33 and the beginning of day 34 of the Federal Communications Commission’s 700 MHz spectrum auction, with the previous 10 rounds of bidding attracting between five and six new bids per round.
Click here for complete 700 MHz auction coverage.
Bidders kicked off the 200th round of the auction in the same manner they left round 199, focused on five B-Block licenses covering Yuba City and Imperial, Calif.; Albany, Ga.; Hunterdon, N.J.; and Ashtabula, Ohio. Each of those licenses received one new bid per round through round 204 and were the only licenses receiving attention. That changed in round 205 when a new bid was placed on the B Block covering Crawford, Pa., replacing the bidding for the Imperial license. Round 206 saw the addition of a new bid on the E-Block license covering American Samoa that last received a bid in round 143 and continued to receive a single new bid per round through round 209.
The Yuba City B-Block license did not receive a new bid in round 207, but was back in play in rounds 208 and 209, while the Albany B Block fell out of favor in rounds 208 and 209 to be replaced by new bids on the B Block covering Roscommon, Mich., during those two rounds. The Hunterdon and Ashtabula B-Block licenses continued to receive new bids through round 209.
Despite all the changing interest in licenses, the new bidding continued to add around $100,000 to the auction’s bottom line, which topped $19.59 billion after round 209.