The Weather Channel, Weather.com for Sale

In what’s shaping up to be a milestone content asset sale, diversified media conglomerate Landmark Communications is fielding bids for The Weather Channel properties, which include top 10 visited website weather.com, hoping to net $4 billion or more.

And while suitors include both cable companies and private equity firms, there doesn’t appear to be any telco TV provider among them in the competition for the privately-owned TV channel and Web site.

As telco TV providers seek differentiation through content, they’ve largely found that the cost of creating content is too high, something cablecos learned long ago, with Comcast Corp. and Cablevision Systems opting to buy or co-own content networks.

While many TV channels and TV service providers offer local weather coverage, The Weather Channel made a name for itself by offering it ‘round-the-clock and by offering it more frequently than what used to be once in a half hour newscast, with its local weather-on-the-eights innovation.

The ability to plug in your zip code or town and state for a wide array of local weather news, forecasts, weather maps and color radar has helped make Weather.com a top-10 visited Web site. The huge expected multibillion dollar bids for the weather properties are largely because of the value of the web property.

And, as service providers have long since learned in the content industry, it’s often more effective to buy an established content brand than attempt to spend big time and money to build one.

One source said bids for The Weather Channel properties are due Friday.

Landmark is also working to divest itself of other media holdings, including a variety of regional and community-focused newspapers.

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