For those not in all the details - the spectrum was for earth to space communication.

They bought it and said they would use it to do earth based broadcast.

First - if this spectrum was usable for earth broadcast LOTS more people would have bid on it and used it.

Second - almost all their proposals were totally and obviously disastrous for other existing users of the spectrum.

With enough venture funding and sticking around for 10 years until you find a compliant FCC you can be rewarded for your bad behavior (and yes, they did finally change some of their proposals - but why this company gets to repurpose sat freqs at no extra cost for terrestrial use is ridiculous). .