NBC to buy The Weather Channel?

An investor group led by NBC and Universal in very interested in buying The Weather Channel . They are willing to pay more than $3 billion to do so, according to people briefed on the negotiations said.

Landmark Communications, the privately held owner of the Weather Channel, is putting the weather-news heavyweight up for sale as part of a break-up of itself. It separately auctioned off its newspaper holdings, including The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, The News & Record of Greensboro, N.C., and The Roanoke Times in Virginia, as well as 50 community newspapers.

The Weather Channel is one of the last privately owned cable channels, rooted in basic cable and once described by a potential bidder as “beachfront property.”