Hey kids, get your bidding paddles and bottomless bank accounts ready. As The New York Times reminds us, we're on the eve of the Great Spectrum Bid of 2008. The list of potential bidders reads like a "Who's Who" of telecom and tech companies, including perhaps most notably, Verizon, AT&T, and Google.

The spectrum, which is set to be freed as the remainder of analog TV watchers are forced to make the transition to digital, has the potential to be home to the future of mobile Internet communications.

"The spectrum that we are auctioning off is going to be the building blocks for the next generation of broadband services," FCC chairman, Kevin Martin, told The Times last week. "It can carry lots of data, penetrates walls easily, travels far and allows for very good broadband wireless service. It will allow a wireless platform to be another competitor in the broadband space."

The minimum bid on the five block licenses is $10 billion. The auction is likely to take several months. In the meantime, the FCC will list the amounts of the top bids here, but not the names of the leading bidders.