French technology vendor Technicolor SA has responded to a Reuters report that it is looking to sell all or part of itself, as it grapples with a downturn in its pay TV set-top business.

“This is an ongoing process in keeping with management's mission to deliver value for shareholders," Technicolor said in the statement. "In this regard, Technicolor stresses that any discussions are at a preliminary stage. No strategic decision or commitment has been made.”

Reuters reported that Technicolor has been talking recently to other companies and private equity firms, including Bain Capital, about sale and merger options.

Related: Technicolor, Cisco Seal the Deal

Technicolor, which has provided media services to film and TV companies for nearly a century, paid $600 million in 2015 for Cisco’s set-top business.

Consolidation of pay TV operators has challenged that business. But the recent global shortage of multi-layer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) has further constrained profitability for Technicolor.

For its part, rival Arris consolidated its set-top holdings around the same time Technicolor bought out Cisco, paying $2.1 billion for the No. 2 set-top maker at the time, the UK’s Pace. Two weeks ago, Arris announced a deal to sell itself to CommScope.

Technicolor’s Connected Home unit, which houses its set-top manufacturing business, generated 56% of the company’s overall revenue in the first half of this year. 

Sinclair Broadcast Group has expressed interest in purchasing The Weather Channel from private equity groups Bain Capital and Blackstone Group and Comcast's NBC Universal, according to the Wall Street Journal, and could pony up as much as $100 million in a deal.

According to the Journal, Sinclair has been in talks with the channel for months, but those discussions have become more intense recently.  While a deal could still fall through, the Journal, citing sources familiar with the companies, said a transaction could be valued at about $100 million.

The Weather Channel agreed to sell its Internet assets – including website weather.com -- to computer concern IBM in October 2015 for about $2 billion. That deal did not include the linear network..

While The Weather Channel is currently in about 90 million homes, it has been a target for distributors looking to cut costs. The network has been the subject of blackouts and drops over the past few years and has been criticized by some distributors in the past for concentrating more on reality programming than weather forecasting. Last year the channel made some changes, revamping its lineup and cutting back on non-weather, non-fiction programming. 

Sinclair is the largest TV station group in the country with about 164 television stations in 79 markets. Earlier this year Sinclair purchased the Tennis Channel for $350 million and has been moving toward a subscription model, launching cable networks like American Sports Network and Ring of Honor.

Private equity firms Bain Capital and The Blackstone Group have held early discussions with two top investment bankers concerning their stakes in The Weather Channel, including a possible sale of their interests, according to reports.

According to a report in Bloomberg News, the buyout firms have approached investment bankers J.P. Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs concerning their possible options, including an outright sale of all or part of the company. Bloomberg said that The Weather Channel has not begun a process or hired bankers yet. The channel, which is fully distributed in more than 100 million homes, was purchased in 2008 for $3.5 billion by Blackstone, Bain and Comcast’s NBC Universal.

While fully distributed channels have attracted high prices in the past, The Weather Channel has come under fire recently for its programming. In January DirecTV dropped the channel for three months – it later signed up with weather service Weather Nation instead – complaining that the network filled its prime time slots with reality programming instead of focusing on weather forecasts. The Weather Channel returned to DirecTV in April, after it agreed to pull back on reality programming and focus more on local weather updates.

Officials at The Weather Channel, Blackstone, NBC Universal and Bain all declined comment.

Sources familiar with the matter said that while “very preliminary” discussions have occurred between the buyout firms and bankers, nothing is imminent.

“I wouldn’t attach a lot of significance to it,” said one person familiar with the companies.

Investors also seemed unfazed by a potential Weather Channel deal. Comcast stock was down about 15 cents each (0.3%) to $56.83 per share in Friday afternon trading.