Big broadcasters have mostly been counted out of the spectrum auction discussion thus far, under the assumption that they would want to hold on to their station assets. But CBS CEO Leslie Moonves and 21st Century Fox Co-Chief Operating Officer James Murdoch challenged that assumption at Wednesday’s 42nd annual UBS media conference, with Moonves stating that exchanging certain stations for spectrum cash represented a “great opportunity” for CBS.

Should CBS decide to pursue that opportunity, the group’s CW and independent stations would be the likely targets, Moonves said. With auction prices fetching as much as $280 million per station in top-market New York, releasing stations to auction might make too much financial sense to pass up.

“For CBS stations, it may be tougher because taking away spectrum may take away from the [high definition] quality of our sporting events,” Moonves said at the conference. “But with some of the independent and the CW stations, there are other ways of doing it without totally throwing your ability away to broadcast. I think we can have our cake and eat it too and make a lot of money.”

Murdoch offered a similar sentiment, saying, “If it makes sense to broadcast [only] over wires, then we’ll do it. But right now there are too many unknowns.”

While some stations will stop operating under the FCC’s auction plans, others could be reassigned to different frequencies and continue broadcasting.

Read more at Los Angeles Times, Broadcasting & Cable

Brief Take: The FCC’s pending broadcast spectrum auctions are one more indication that traditional broadcasting is giving way to modern delivery systems.

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