In article ,
Alric Knebel wrote:

That's a ridiculous article in my estimation. It starts out with the
accusation that it was auctioned to balance the budget deficit. The
thing is you had to sell those off some kind of way. What are you
supposed to do with them? Just let anybody claim them, just by the fact
that they'd have the equipment? How would you settle ownership?

You could have kept control over them like, oh say, the current
model of that very same part of spectrum. You could have allocated them
for free to public safety or some other worthy group. Any number of
other possibilities if they had wanted to go that way.
If you look at the history, the auction was largely a justification
for taking the spectrum away from TV and not staying with a dual system
for a few more years.