MediaFile

The simple proposition of telling people whether it is raining or sunny could set a new benchmark for media valuations, with the Weather Channel going up for sale for $5 billion, according to the New York Times.

The cable channel’s parent, Landmark Communications, is already attracting interest from the likes of NBC, News Corp and Comcast, the Times reported. A big part of the draw is the Web site, Weather.com, with more than 32 million people checking in monthly.

If the Weather Channel can fetch that asking price, what could be in store for shopping channel HSN, which is due to split from parent IAC/InterActiveCorp, or the family of Discovery cable channels, which John Malone is letting loose to public investors?

(New York Times)

Keep an eye on:

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• Is Jay-Z starting a record label with Apple? Some says yes , others no.
• Tom Wolfe, one of the iconic names in American publishing, has left Farrar, Straus & Giroux after more than 40 years to join French media and defense company Lagardère SCA’s Little, Brown imprint. (WSJ)
• Plaxo, an early social networking site that helps people keep their address books updated, is up for auction and is seeking as much as $100 million. (NYTimes)