• Bloomberg, Wednesday, August 19, 2009 10:28 PM

Among bidders for Cox's Travel Channel are News Corp., Scripps Networks Interactive Inc. and NBC Universal. First-round bids were due Tuesday. Time Warner Inc. may consider making a bid later in the process, say sources.

As soon as next month, selected bidders will get access to the channel's financial data and the parties will then submit final bids after due diligence. Cox Communications said in June that it had received unsolicited inquiries about the Travel Channel Media unit and subsequently hired Goldman Sachs to evaluate its options. Hale Holden, Barclays Capital analyst, has put the channel's value at $600 million to $700 million.

Travel Channel, home of "Man v. Food" and "Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations," reaches more than 90 million homes. It has averaged 474,000 viewers during primetime this year, per Nielsen.

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