Update:NBC/Universal Buys Weather Channel for about $3.5B

[lurkey]

http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/5/repo ... er_channel

Report: NBC U (GE) Bidding $3.5 Billion For Weather Channel
Michael Learmonth | May 30, 2008 9:20 AM


When Landmark first put Weather Channel on the block in January, the asking price floated was $5 billion. Now the leading bidder for the cable channel and Web site, a consortium including NBC U (GE), Blackstone Group and Bain Capital, is offering $3.5 billion, roughly half of which, or $1.8 billion, is equity, according to Reuters. Blackstone's GSO Capital is also putting in $600 million.

Time Warner (TWX) is also still reportedly in the running; CBS (CBS) and Viacom (VIA) have both recently disavowed interest. Weather Channel is distributed in 96 million homes; its Web site attracts 35 million unique visitors a month.

[TexasStooge]

I like to see Time Warner instead of NBC Universal getting The Weather Channel. NBC U already has their own "WeatherPlus" channel as it is.

[MississippiHurricane]

I agree with you Texas........I still DO watch TWC and i would really hate it to become ANYTHING like weather plus...........i hate weather plus anyway. I would HOPE the basic setup of TWC would stay the same.......or even go back to the way it was...without all the shows....or better yet create a new channel with the shows to satisfy that audience.

[lurkey]

Time Warner scraps Weather Channel bid

Fri Jun 13, 2008 7:34pm EDT



By Kenneth Li

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Time Warner Inc (TWX.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) withdrew its bid to buy the Weather Channel after refusing to raise its offer, leaving NBC Universal and its partners in exclusive talks with the network's owner, Landmark Communications.

"The consortium made up of NBC Universal and the private equity firms of Blackstone and Bain has been selected to participate in exclusive negotiations to purchase the Weather Channel," General Electric's (GE.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) NBC Universal said in a statement that resembled prepared remarks by Landmark.

The statement came after a source familiar with the negotiations told Reuters earlier on Friday that Time Warner had withdrawn from the bidding.

Time Warner Chief Financial Officer John Martin told investors last week the media conglomerate would be interested in pursuing a deal but would be "extremely price disciplined and price sensitive." It was not clear how much Time Warner had offered.

Shares of Time Warner, which declined comment, closed up 3.5 percent.

"They're still interested in acquisitions, but they're going to be disciplined in the price they pay," said Christopher Marangi, an associate portfolio manager at Time Warner investor Gabelli & Co.

The NBC Universal, Blackstone Group LP (BX.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Bain Capital consortium offered an estimated $3.5 billion to buy the cable network that produces national, regional and local weather-related programming and other properties, sources said earlier.

Sources previously told Reuters the consortium would divide $1.8 billion of equity roughly equally in their bid, which would be worth about $3.5 billion, including debt. Blackstone's GSO Capital -- a hedge fund firm specializing in leveraged debt -- would provide about $600 million in debt, another source told Reuters.

The Weather Channel network serves about 96 million U.S. subscribers and can be seen in more than 97 percent of all cable television homes.

[lurkey]

NBC Clinches Deal for Weather Channel

An investor group led by NBC Universal and two private equity firms clinched a deal for the Weather Channel on Sunday, after three weeks of negotiations over the sale of the weather news giant.

Though the parties did not disclose the price, the buyers – NBC and the private equity firms Bain Capital and the Blackstone Group – will pay just under $3.5 billion, people briefed on the matter said. That is less than the $5 billion that the Weather Channel’s parent, Landmark Communications, sought when it put the basic cable channel and related properties like weather.com up for sale in January.

In a sign of the weaker debt markets that have clamped down on large private equity deals, more than half of the price tag will be paid for in equity, to be divided roughly equally among the three buyers, these people said.

The deal was mostly wrapped up shortly after June 13, when Time Warner, the only other remaining bidder, dropped out.

Though not the flashiest property, the 26-year-old Weather Channel is the leading brand of weather information on television, reaching 96 million households on basic cable.

Beyond the Weather Channel, the deal also includes the Weather.com Web site, which attracts nearly 40 million unique users per month. It also encompasses Weather Services International, a forecasting service with more than 5,500 clients.

Under the terms of the deal, the Weather Channel will be run as an independent operation, rather than being merged into NBC’s own meteorological offering, NBC Weather Plus. Built as a competitor to the Weather Channel, Weather Plus has long been seen as an also-ran, with fewer viewers and generally higher on the channel dial. . . .

[wx247]

Several outlets now reporting this news. You can check that out by going to http://thenews2k.blogspot.com .

[KWT]

Yeah I heard about this a few weeks ago I wonder what changes they will bring?

[Jason_B]

From reading the title it looked like they bought TWC for 3 dollars.

Yeah I heard about this a few weeks ago I wonder what changes they will bring?

Hopefully they get rid of those extra programs they have that rob us of local conditions for an hour and actually make it a 24-hour weather channel again.

[Miss Mary]

From reading the title it looked like they bought TWC for 3 dollars.

Yeah I heard about this a few weeks ago I wonder what changes they will bring?

Hopefully they get rid of those extra programs they have that rob us of local conditions for an hour and actually make it a 24-hour weather channel again.

Hear, hear!

Let's hope they do away with all the fluff pieces and get back to wx.

I just thought of something - the new owners could reinstate TWC message boards again. Not that I would ever leave S2K mind you, but TWC's boards, when they were useful tools, were a good asset for the channel.

[lurkey]

From reading the title it looked like they bought TWC for 3 dollars.

That is what's worth right . .

Fixed. .

[FORMERWXMAN]

I was working for the NWS when the Wx Channel started in the early 80s.
They made us change the way we wrote our forecasts from narrative format
to the current 12 hour period forecasts. They even made us change the way
we issued warnings and statements.

Now they do not even use our public forecasts.

I always wondered how a private company could force the NWS how to issue
products.

I think that the current and former NWS employees should get a portion of that $3.5 billion, because without them, there would never had been a Weather Channel, John Coleman's dream. I wonder if John is still around?

[Aslkahuna]

John Coleman is indeed still around and doesn't really like what TWC has become. I seriously doubt that there will be improvement on TWC considering NBC's recent track record with TV programming.

Steve

[MississippiHurricane]

Well......all i know is I DONT like weather plus........and if TWC becomes ANYTHING like that..........I will stop watching for good. Yes I do still enjoy the weather channel.............one of the reasons i got into weather when I was a young kid. I think they should have made a seperate channel for all the shows they have.........would be a lot better IMO........but thats just me.

[Cyclenall]

On the Late night shows on TV, the weather jokes started coming out when they talked about this. For the first time, Conan said something about a "weather nerd".

[KWT]

I heard about those programmes that repeat on that channel that really have only minimal relevance to the actual weather.