Weathe Channel Auction

Weather Channel auction wrapping up: NBC and its financial partners Bain and Blackstone are expected this weekend to conclude a deal whereby they purchase The Weather Channel for $3.5B from parent Landmark Communications. [Wall Street Journal] While lower than the $5B originally hoped for, the price is still rich, considering the auction was stunted not just by the inability of private equity firms to line up financing but also by strategic buyers who were either price-sensitive (as in the case of TWX), or had recently bought other properties (as was the case with CBS after it paid $1.8 billion for CNET). [New York Post]