Howard University said Wednesday that it would join other broadcasters in taking part in a Federal Communications Commission auction that could entail selling the rights to the spectrum on which it broadcasts the nation’s only black-owned public television station.
Citing confidentiality rules surrounding the auction, Howard did not detail its bidding strategy or intentions. According to F.C.C. rules, the university may choose to completely cede its spectrum rights for a premium payout or to trade them for a less-valuable frequency type and a smaller payment. If it elects to cede its rights, Howard may take its 35-year-old station, WHUT, off the air or try to share spectrum space with another broadcaster.
The auction has stirred vociferous debate at Howard, a historically black university, as students, faculty and alumni have called on trustees to weigh the station’s symbolic, educational and financial value. Giving up its spectrum could fetch Howard, which has struggled financially in recent years, up to $461 million, though people who have studied the auction, the first of its kind, say they expect a much lower final buyback bid.
Howard’s president, Dr. Wayne A.I. Frederick, wrote on Wednesday in a letter to the university community that Howard could still walk away from the auction at any point and would continue to contemplate “an overarching Media and Communications strategy.”
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