Article By: Joshua Russak (Red@aclion.com)

According to Reuters (article here), Time Warner just withdrew their bid for the Weather Channel. Time Warner Chief Financial Officer John Martin told investors last week the company would be interested in pursuing a deal but would be "extremely price disciplined and price sensitive." It was not clear how much Time Warner had offered. [Shares of Time Warner rose more than 3 percent!]

General Electric's NBC Universal, Blackstone Group LP and Bain Capital stepped in and made their bid for $3.5 billion for both properties (cable and web). Since it was unclear what Time Warner was willing to bid, I'm not sure if $3.5 billion is a "fair-price".

As for the consortium...They were the only competitors and the deadline for for a new bid passed at noon ET on Friday.

As for Time Warner, this latest development leaves them free to pursue other cable networks.