LOS ANGELES (

TheStreet

) -- The auction of

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

is expected to receive only a few bids by the Friday deadline, a report says.

Only three companies are still weighing offers out of the six who were considering bids initially, the

Wall Street Journal

reports.

Among the companies likely to still bid for the movie studio are

Time Warner

(TWX)

,

Lions Gate Entertainment

(LGF)

and billionaire Len Blavatnik's Access Industries, while

Liberty Media

(LINTA)

and New York hedge-fund Elliot Management have dropped out.

Summit Entertainment

dropped out a while ago.

Offers are expected to be in the range of $1.2 billion to $1.5 billion, well below the nearly $4 billion that MGM owes its bank lenders. If the bids fall too low, the studio could pursue a standalone plan in which its lenders would convert their debt to equity and sell equity to another investor, the

Journal

says.

In recent days, MGM's bank debt has fallen to around 50 cents on the dollar from 60 cents, valuing MGM at around $2 billion at best. Some creditors believe the studio is worth closer to $3 billion, with the "Bond" franchise alone worth $1 billion. They would rather retain control of the company than sell it for a lowball price, sources told the

Journal

.

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