I think I got most of the answers I needed from the publication I linked above. The goal of the auction was to convert the same frequencies across the country,

I think I got most of the answers I needed from the publication I linked above. The goal of the auction was to convert the same frequencies across the country, rather than end up with a patchwork. To make this possible, there were three basic possible outcomes for a TV station. 1. Get bought out at a price you are happy with. 2. Keep your frequency. 3. Have your frequency replaced with something equivalent (capable of teaching 99.5% of your current potential audience) With that last point being the key. Even if you happened to own a bit of frequency that was needed for mobile networks, it should not allow you to extract any extra money from the system since you'd just get another frequency slice instead. How do you game this? Obviously if you own all, or almost all, of the frequencies in one geography you can just set your own price, and the third option will not trigger since there is no equivalent frequency for them to swap you with. But that's just a run of the mill market cornering scenario, and the narrative was selling this as something a lot more interesting, so there is probably more to the story than that.