Bloomberg
News Corp. and Scripps Networks Interactive Inc. are the frontrunners in bidding for the Travel Channel with offers of about $800 million, according to four people with knowledge of the situation.
The cable channel’s owner, Atlanta-based Cox Communications Inc., may select one party for exclusive negotiations as early as today, said one of the people, who declined to be identified because discussions are private.
The offers exceed the $600 million to $700 million that Hale Holden, a credit analyst at Barclays Capital Inc. in New York, estimated Travel Channel Media was worth after Cox said in June that it had received unsolicited inquiries for the unit. Cox, the third-largest U.S. cable company, hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to evaluate its options.
“It’s clearly a global franchise,” News Corp. Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey said in an Oct. 21 interview. News Corp. is “uniquely capable to really develop it.” More…