Weather Bids Due

Landmark Communications is expected to finish receiving bids for the Weather Channel on March 10, according to executives familiar with the situation.

The privately held company is said to be seeking some $4 billion for the cable network, although potential buyers said that price was too high and expected it would come down significantly. A Landmark spokesperson would not comment on the timing of the bids or on pricing.

Parties who have considered the network, even casually, include General Electric's NBC Universal, CBS Corp. and Time Warner. Representatives for those companies declined comment.

Norfolk, Va.-based Landmark said in January that it had hired JP Morgan and Lehman Bros. to explore options for its publishing and TV businesses. Weather would likely be the crown jewel of any sale; its Website is among the top 20 most visited, attracting about 35 million unique visitors each month, according to the company. Unlike many cable networks, whose Websites' content is mainly an extension of their linear channels, Weather's is a destination unto itself.