Richard told you earlier this year that The Weather Channel was for sale. Now it looks like recent rumors that NBC was going to be the one to buy the TV network are true. Reuters says that the deal should be closed in the next few days, and the reported price is between $3 billion and $4 billion.

If you haven't noticed, weather is the most important part of a newscast now. I was just talking to my roommate about this yesterday. Every single local newscast opens with news about the weather. Not just tornadoes and hurricanes, but bad rain storms that might pop up later in the day (wow, rainstorms in the summer - shocking!). Weather is the lead story (death, war, and the election can wait), the follow-up story, and the actual weather segment halfway through the show is given another good 7 or 8 minutes.

I remember a Saturday Night Live sketch from the late 1970's where Harry Shearer was a DJ at a radio station that only gave the time of day. No music, no news, no weather -- just the time. I am always reminded of that sketch every time I watch The Weather Channel. I mean, who would have thought that 24 hours worth of weather forecasts would ever amount to anything?

Landmark Communications apparently did when it started the channel back in 1982. Now, the network, along with its Weather.com site and various other enterprises, is bringing in billions of dollars to the communications company. Sadly, though, Landmark may lose this linchpin since the family that owns the privately-owned company is looking into putting it up for sale.