I wouldn't have guessed that the reason it took so long was ecause of a LACK of bids, though.

Nobody in my personal life cares about this auction and they give me weird looks when I mention it.

So it sounds like no Google or any other innovation. While desperately wishing for a different answer it sounds like verizon and att did exactly what they had to do -- pay any amount WHATSOEVER to ensure they could continue to rape and pillage the American people for the Long Term to come.

This is exactly what gives capitalism a bad name!!!!! I feel fortunate to be a part of such a progressive system.

PLUS, now we get to watch the FCC piss away $19,000,000,000 without showing one single benefit for anyone who actually pays taxes, has a job, should be allowed to breed.

This is a real Monday Morning sort of story.

"The FCC already has plans for the cash. Apparently, it's to be spent on "public safety and digital television transition initiatives", so it's digital set-top boxes all round then."

Surely it's more likely to be a bit more lock-in, like mandating HDMI, broadcast flags, etc. I don't believe they'd just give out some set top boxes without forcing people into using a few of their "best ideas".

For a British publication, this should be $19,000 million, unless the auction raised $19,000,000,000,000. Just because our colonial friends cannot count (or spell for that matter) does not mean we should follow suit in this ignorance.

Teach a man to fish...

If reporting the US$ amount then using the US definition of billion seems reasonable.

If it was converted to the UK £ equivalent then I'd have expected to see £9,500 million.

... but maybe instead of auctioning it off it could have just been opened up.

The main reason we have such huge companies who have so much power over us is due to the massive entry costs into these businesses, only a large company which can dominate us can ever afford the amounts required!

By ISO definitions, billion = 10^9

We count quite well enough to send vehicles to other planets, how about you?