As we've mentioned previously, Echostar and DirecTV have formed a group dedicated to snagging spectrum, and have collectively put down nearly a billion dollars in order to do so (the FCC list of companies, and how much they've paid, is here). That obviously already matches the amount Rupert Murdoch said he'd invest in order to get DirecTV into the broadband business (err - again).

However if the rumor of DirecTV buying or cooperating with Clearwire in order to offer nationwide Wimax is true, they wouldn't need that spectrum for broadband. Daily Wireless speculates that Murdoch wants the spectrum to help MVNO Helio, which he's tying to MySpace, to move from virtual mobile phone provider to the real deal.