One of the newest stories hitting the business world today is the reported potential sale of Landmark Communications, which is the company that owns such popular media properties as The Weather Channel and nine daily newspapers, most in the Eastern U.S. Landmark is privately owned by the Batten family of Norfolk, VA, with Frank Batten, Jr. serving as the CEO. The possible price for the purchase of the company could rise as high as $5 billion. If the sale does occur, what will happen to the company, the product, and all parties involved?

It was just five months ago that another major family-owned media company – the Wall Street Journal – was bought out (by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp). At the time, many were afraid, cautious, or in an uproar, over the negative affect News Corp’s influence might have on the Wall Street Journal. So far, such concerns have proven baseless, as the Wall Street Journal has maintained its integrity and high quality.

I believe that buy-outs of such large media companies, like this newest one with Landmark and its The Weather Channel, will rarely result in many noticeable negative changes to the company’s media product. Business people smart enough to buy such a valuable property should also be smart enough to realize a good thing when they have it, and that changing it too much will most likely turn it from a good thing into a failure. As they say, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Most savvy business people understand this. There is simply too much at stake with such valuable media properties that are functioning very successfully for new ownership to launch sweeping changes to the existing product or employee base.

Hence, I believe that the future of Landmark’s media properties will remain sound, regardless of the company ownership. As long as the employees are providing value to their respective media products, they should have little fear that much will change.