The latest round of bidding for the Weather Channel is due Friday. In earlier rounds, bids only reached $3.5 billion, instead of the $5 billion the parent company, Landmark Communications Inc., was expecting.

Top bidders are said to be Time Warner Inc., and NBC Universal, along with private equity partners Blackstone Group LP and Bain Capital. CBS fell out of the auction after buying Cnet Networks Inc. for $1.8 billion.

Posted: 06|7|08 at 8:53 am. Filed under: Auction News.