As U.S. telephone carriers move into the television business, media conglomerates are eyeing ways to grab valuable wireless airwaves as another way to deliver profitable high-speed Internet and other services.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission on August 9 is scheduled to begin auctioning off hundreds of licenses for advanced wireless services in a sale that analysts have said could raise between $8 billion to $15 billion.

In one of the biggest communications forays yet by media companies, satellite provider DirecTV Group Inc. has joined forces with rival EchoStar Communications Corp. and Liberty Media to bid on the sale as did Washington Post Cos Cable One Inc.

A venture backed by the No. 3 wireless carrier Sprint Nextel Corp. and major cable operators, including Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Inc. , as well as an entity run by Cablevision Systems Corps Chairman Charles Dolan also sought to participate in the bidding.