It looks like Cox Communications Inc. won't have a hard time getting away from Travel Channel. The first round of the auction drew some expected bidders, including News Corp. (NYSE:NWS), Scripps Networks Interactive (NYSE:SNI) and NBC Universal, according to Bloomberg.
Conspicuously absent from the list was Time Warner Corp. (NYSE:TWX), which many analysts felt would be the most financially qualified with $7 billion in cash to acquire the channel. But Reuters says it's still not too late for Time Warner to bid because a deadline hasn't been set for the second-round bids.
Travel Channel is an alluring target for its unique niche with virtually no direct competitors. There are other cable channels such as The Food Network and HGTV, which carry certain shows that touch on travel, but there are no other channels that completely focus on the topic. The Food Network, for example, has "Rachel Ray's Tasty Travels," and HGTV carries "House Hunters International."
Experts say Travel Channel could go for between $600 million and $1 billion. The last high-profile auction for a standalone niche channel involved The Weather Channel, which sold for $3.5 billion in July 2008. Despite Travel Channel having 99.1 million subscribers compared to The Weather Channel's 84.1 million, it won't draw as high a sales price because some experts say the Cox-owned property has a weaker brand positioning on the Internet. The Weather Channel says it attracts 41 million unique visitors per month while some rough estimates put Travel Channel's at 1.3 million. - Gerald Magpily
