Liberty considers bids for pay-TV unit Chellomedia Liberty Global, the group of European cable operators chaired by John Malone, is sifting through first-round bids for Chellomedia, its collection of 68 international pay-television channels, before a second round of bidding that is expected to value the business at close to $1bn. People briefed on the auction process said first-round bids had come in from media companies and private equity companies late last week and a group of second round bidders would be selected soon. The company declined to comment. Liberty Global's content division, which has operations in 13 countries and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation this year of about €75m ($100m), has attracted interest from US media owners looking to expand their international operations. These included Scripps Networks Interactive, Turner Broadcasting System, Discovery Communications, people familiar with the auction process said, but all three companies declined to comment and it was not clear which had made firm bids. Analysts at Macquarie argued earlier this year that Chellomedia would fit well with Scripps, the US group behind Food Network and HGTV, which has had a partnership with Chellomedia since 2009. Turner, the Time Warner Cable networks division that includes brands such as CNN and TNT, has stated its interest in acquiring more channels from western Europe to Latin America. Discovery has spent almost $2bn on acquisitions from Norway to France in the past 12 months, and earlier this year described western Europe as a "new emerging market." However, Chellomedia's portfolio of 48 wholly-owned channels and 20 joint ventures, which derives most of its revenue from eastern Europe and Latin America, has few market-leading brands, which may weigh on bidders" valuations. The channels are only partially dependent on carriage over Liberty Global's growing network of European cable operators, but other pay-TV platforms are facing pressure on content costs and talking about being more selective about which channels they will carry. "It's the only independent channels business out there, but it's not a must-have," said one person close to one of the bidders. Macquarie analysts last month said they thought Liberty Global could reap about $1bn from selling Chellomedia. Liberty Global spent $23.3bn to buy Virgin Media earlier this year then tried to buy Kabel Deutschland in Germany, and the analysts predicted that the US group would look for further deals, such as increasing its stakes in Ziggo in the Netherlands and Telenet in Belgium. The auction, on which Liberty Global is being advised by Morgan Stanley, could be complicated by Chellomedia's partnerships with other media owners such as A+E Networks, CBS and MGM. Last year it expanded a UK partnership with CBS to create CBS-branded channels in 83 markets across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The CBS Reality, CBS Drama and CBS Action channels feature programming from the CBS library such as "Dynasty" and "Star Trek," and CBS took a 30 per cent stake in the channels, which it is expected to retain under any new owner. CBS also declined to comment.