Management

FCC Poised to Reject Dish Partners’ Spectrum Discounts

The Wall Street Journal (online registration required): Federal regulators are poised to reject $3.3 billion in discounts sought by two small Dish partners during an airwaves auction earlier this year, people familiar with the matter said, dealing a blow to the satellite-TV operator, which has been aggressively accumulating spectrum despite not offering cellphone service.

After a long review, staff at the Federal Communications Commission concluded that the $13.3 billion in winning bids by two companies backed by Dish didn’t qualify for the small-business discounts because their bidding conduct violated the broad spirit of the auction’s rules, one of the people said. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler circulated a draft order to the FCC’s other four commissioners on Wednesday, the people said.

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