The owner of Animal Planet and the Discovery Channel said Thursday it would buy out Atlanta shareholder Cox Communications Holdings Inc. for $1.28 billion.

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Discovery Communications Inc. will also give Travel Channel, Travelchannel.com and museum audio-tour business Antenna Audio to Cox in the non-binding deal, the company said.

While Animal Planet and other Discovery brands have wide international distribution, Travel Channel is limited to U.S. markets.

"This proposed transaction will simplify Discovery's ownership structure, further streamline our operations and give the company more strategic flexibility," Chief Executive Officer David Zaslav said, adding the change would improve the company's decision-making process.

The cable programming company is roughly 50 percent owned by publicly traded Discovery Holding Co. of Englewood, Colo.; 25 percent by Cox; and 25 percent by Advance/Newhouse Communications of East Syracuse, N.Y.

Upon completion of the deal, expected in May, two-thirds of the company will be owned by Discovery Holding and the rest by Advance/Newhouse.

Cox and Advance/Newhouse representatives were not immediately available for comment.