FCC sets July 22 vote on Upper C-Band auction, giving broadcasters a firm timeline

The Federal Communications Commission will vote July 22 on an order authorizing the auction of 160 megahertz of Upper C-Band spectrum, Chairman Brendan Carr announced June 30.

The vote answers a question that divided broadcasters, satellite operators and managed service providers at the 2026 NAB Show two months earlier: how fast the C-band transition will actually move.

False urgency or impending deadline? C-band transition divides NAB Show

C-band deadline pushes broadcasters toward IP-based distribution systems

The draft order covers the 3.98-4.14 GHz band and would combine it with the previously cleared Lower C-Band (3.7-3.98 GHz) to form a contiguous 440 megahertz block for wireless services. Congress required the FCC to auction at least 100 megahertz of Upper C-Band spectrum by July 2027 under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The draft order exceeds that minimum by 60 megahertz.

The order proposes that winning bidders could begin wireless service in the top 75 U.S. markets in December 2030, with remaining markets following in July 2031.

A deadline question, answered

At NAB Show in April, the central point of disagreement among vendors was whether the July 2027 statutory deadline meant broadcasters had to vacate C-band spectrum by that date. SES executives argued the date applied only to the auction itself, not to a repack or clearing deadline, and said that distinction was getting lost in customer conversations.

“A lot of customers seem to feel that the clearing has to happen by 2027,” said Deepak Mathur, president of media vertical at SES, at the time. “That’s totally not the case.”

Other vendors said the broader trajectory still pointed toward a fast transition regardless of the exact mechanics. Rick Young, senior vice president and global head of products at LTN, said in April that once FCC rules and the auction were set in motion, the transition would likely move quickly. The December 2030 and July 2031 target dates included in the June 30 draft order are consistent with that expectation, falling roughly three to four years after the 2027 auction rather than immediately following it.

Marc Aldrich, CEO of Zixi, pointed in April to the $81 billion the FCC’s first C-band auction generated for the federal government as a sign the second auction would be pursued aggressively. Carr’s announcement projected the 2026 auction would raise “billions of dollars” for the U.S. Treasury without citing a specific figure. An accompanying FCC fact sheet estimated the broader spectrum release could contribute up to $264 billion in gross domestic product and 1.5 million jobs, along with $388 billion in consumer surplus.

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Aviation coordination built into the timeline

The draft order pairs the spectrum auction with a parallel Federal Aviation Administration rulemaking addressing radio altimeters, devices that measure an aircraft’s height above ground and operate in a band adjacent to the Upper C-Band. The FAA said in a statement accompanying the FCC announcement that years of testing supported coexistence between 5G signals and aviation systems, provided certain safeguards were in place.

Those safeguards include limits on the power of auctioned 5G signals, a buffer band between altimeter frequencies and the auctioned spectrum, and limits on the height of 5G transmission towers, according to the FAA statement. The FAA said it plans to issue a separate rule later this summer requiring aircraft altimeter upgrades, alongside rebates to help operators cover the cost.

The order would set aside funding for those altimeter rebates, along with transition costs and incentive payments for satellite operators still using the reconfigured portion of the Upper C-Band. The FCC said total incentive payments to satellite operators would be lower in aggregate than payments following the Lower C-Band auction, though roughly proportional given the smaller amount of spectrum involved.

Specific dollar figures were redacted from the public draft ahead of the vote, with the FCC saying it would release them when the Commission votes July 22.

Vendors react to the order

Zixi and LTN, two of the managed-delivery vendors that offered competing assessments of the transition timeline at NAB Show in April, responded to the June 30 announcement with statements welcoming the added clarity.

“We’ve been closely monitoring this situation and keeping our customers informed throughout,” said Alan Young, vice president of strategic business development at Zixi. “We welcome this announcement, as it provides much-needed clarity for the industry and allows us to move forward in helping our clients plan and design for their transition off C-band.”

“These are not easy decisions, and they require careful planning and strategy,” Young said.

Malik Khan, executive chairman and co-founder of LTN, called the order a milestone for the industry.

“We welcome today’s announcement on the auction of Upper C-Band capacity,” Khan said. “This is a significant milestone in the evolution of U.S. broadcast distribution. Broadcasters need certainty around how they will continue delivering mission-critical video services as C-band spectrum is repurposed, and the confidence that comes from the fact that proven alternatives already exist today.”

Khan said LTN’s managed IP distribution network was built to augment or replace satellite delivery for mission-critical traffic nationwide, including reach into rural and small-market stations and MVPD headends. He pointed to PBS, Scripps, TelevisaUnivision, MSG Networks, MASN and Tennis Channel as organizations that have completed satellite-to-IP migrations at scale, and said LTN’s network carries close to 8,000 channels, has completed nearly 2,000 satellite-to-IP migrations and reaches more than 1,400 broadcast stations and 98 percent of the U.S. market, with full nationwide coverage expected by the end of the year.

“We have been preparing for this shift for over fifteen years,” Khan said. “We look forward to working with broadcasters, satellite operators and technology partners in helping customers navigate this transition.”

What broadcasters were already planning for

The conversations earlier this year converged on the expectation that no single replacement technology would fully replace C-band distribution, regardless of the final timeline. Vendors described a hybrid approach combining Ku-band satellite capacity with IP-based managed delivery as the most likely outcome for most broadcasters.

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“We’re going to get to IP eventually,” said Aldrich. “Ku-band is going to be our first course.”

Eddie Ferraro, vice president of global media services at Globecast, said in April that his company was advising clients to audit their affiliate infrastructure and map cost structures across a range of possible FCC outcomes rather than wait for full certainty. The order set for a July 22 vote narrows that range by attaching specific market-rollout dates to the broader spectrum auction process, though the rules governing the actual incumbent transition timeline remain part of the same rulemaking process.

Marc Bruce, CEO of Encompass Digital Media, said in April that larger broadcasters would likely need some combination of private network and satellite capability regardless of how quickly IP delivery matures, with the decision of when to commit to a specific path depending on the FCC’s eventual rules.

“Do you have to pull the trigger?” Bruce said in April. “Well, no, until we know what the drop-dead date is.”

The FCC’s July 22 vote will not be the final word on that question, since the draft order addresses auction rules and the broader band plan rather than a station-by-station clearing schedule. But the proposed December 2030 and July 2031 service-commencement dates give the industry its first concrete markers since Congress restored the FCC’s spectrum auction authority.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with additional comments from broadcast vendors.