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Clear Sky for a Cable Deal
by Jeffrey Cane
Jan 3 2008
Jan 3 2008
The Weather Channel is said to be up for sale.
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A financial holding Company whose activities are organized, for management reporting purposes, into six business segments: … View More
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The Company through its subsidiary owns and operates a pay television channel, known as the Hallmark Channel dedicated to … View More
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The Company is a cable operator in the United States and offers a variety of entertainment and communications products and services. View More
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A media company, which manages and reports its businesses in many segments. View More
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Everybody talks about the weather. Now a Virginia family is about to profit handsomely from it.
Andrew Ross Sorkin of the New York Times and Bill Choyke and Philip Walzer of the Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk report that the Pilot's parent, Landmark Communications, controlled by the Batten family of Norfolk, is exploring the sale of the Weather Channel and other media assets, including the Pilot.
The Weather Channel is one of the few cable channels not already owned by a big media conglomerate and its sale is expected to fetch as much as $5 billion, according to the reports.
At first glance, that price may seem a bit high. It comes to roughly $54 for every household, compared with the $12 per household, or $925 million, that Oxygen Media received for selling itself to
NBC Universal in October.
But the Weather Channel is more than a dominant cable presence, in more than 94 million households. Its websites are also very attractive to media suitors, Sorkin notes. Weather.com had more than 32 million unique users in November—more than CNN or Facebook, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. It is also the fifth biggest internet brand on mobile devices, with more than 6.4 million unique users a month.
Sorkin reports that the Weather Channel has already attracted interest from NBC Universal,News Corp., and Comcast.
A deal could ratchet up the pressure onCrown Media to sell the Hallmark Channel, which is in more than 74 million homes.
Landmark is a private company. In addition to the Weather Channel and the Virginian-Pilot, it owns the News & Record of Greensboro, North Carolina, and the Roanoke Times in Virginia, as well as other newspapers and some TV stations.
J.P. Morgan Chase is advising Landmark on the sale of the Weather Channel, while Lehman Brothers is advising on the sale of the other media properties.
Richard F. Barry III, vice chairman of Landmark, told the Virginian-Pilot, "We are exploring strategic alternatives, and that can entail a number of possibilities, one of which is the sale of the company's businesses. It's very early in the process."
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Andrew Ross Sorkin of the New York Times and Bill Choyke and Philip Walzer of the Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk report that the Pilot's parent, Landmark Communications, controlled by the Batten family of Norfolk, is exploring the sale of the Weather Channel and other media assets, including the Pilot.
The Weather Channel is one of the few cable channels not already owned by a big media conglomerate and its sale is expected to fetch as much as $5 billion, according to the reports.
At first glance, that price may seem a bit high. It comes to roughly $54 for every household, compared with the $12 per household, or $925 million, that Oxygen Media received for selling itself to
NBC Universal in October.But the Weather Channel is more than a dominant cable presence, in more than 94 million households. Its websites are also very attractive to media suitors, Sorkin notes. Weather.com had more than 32 million unique users in November—more than CNN or Facebook, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. It is also the fifth biggest internet brand on mobile devices, with more than 6.4 million unique users a month.
Sorkin reports that the Weather Channel has already attracted interest from NBC Universal,
News Corp., and Comcast. A deal could ratchet up the pressure on
Crown Media to sell the Hallmark Channel, which is in more than 74 million homes. Landmark is a private company. In addition to the Weather Channel and the Virginian-Pilot, it owns the News & Record of Greensboro, North Carolina, and the Roanoke Times in Virginia, as well as other newspapers and some TV stations.
J.P. Morgan Chase is advising Landmark on the sale of the Weather Channel, while Lehman Brothers is advising on the sale of the other media properties. Richard F. Barry III, vice chairman of Landmark, told the Virginian-Pilot, "We are exploring strategic alternatives, and that can entail a number of possibilities, one of which is the sale of the company's businesses. It's very early in the process."
Also on Portfolio.com
Five Media Trends in 2008
Mixed Media: Late Night and the Strike
Mixed Media: Bloomberg-NYT Merger in 2009?
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