Cox Communications has decided to sell a majority stake in the Travel Channel in an auction expected to value the cable network at $600 million or more and break the drought in media industry deal-making.

Scripps Networks Interactive, owner of the Food Network, is widely seen as the front-runner in an auction likely to test large media groups' continued appetite for cable programming. The auction is also expected to attract interest from Time Warner, which remains flush with the proceeds of splitting off its cable business. Time Warner examined the Weather Channel last year, before its eventual sale to a group led by NBC Universal.

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