Paper-TV ties Stall Sale of Tribune

PAPER-TV TIES STALL SALE OF TRIBUNE
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times 2/19, AUTHOR: Jim Puzzanghera]
Tribune Co. took a calculated risk when it purchased Times Mirror Co. in 2000, acquiring newspapers in markets where it already owned TV stations despite federal rules barring such combinations. Tribune executives expected the restrictions to be gone by now. That they are not has posed an obstacle to the Chicago-based company's sale. Tribune has been allowed to operate the Los Angeles Times and KTLA-TV Channel 5, along with newspapers and TV stations in four other markets, through a complex web of loopholes, waivers and grandfather clauses that would vanish if the company changed hands, forcing a new owner to sell assets. Public interest groups say the rule is vital in preventing further media consolidation and preserving local discourse. But media companies have been fighting to repeal the rule for years, calling it outdated, especially at a time when the Internet has proliferated consumer choice and eroded the dominance of newspapers and TV stations. Yet even in the Internet age, most Americans depend on their hometown media for the local news, said Andrew Jay Schwartzman, president of Media Access Project, a public interest law firm. The rules can be traced to the era of the Watergate scandal, when President Nixon threatened to retaliate against the Washington Post for its aggressive reporting.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-crossowner19feb19,1,7573591.story?...
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TRIBUNE MOVES CLOSER TO A CORPORATE REWRITE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal 2/17, AUTHOR: Sarah Ellison sarah.ellison@wsj.com ]
As the auction for Tribune Co. limps to a close, it is becoming clear that newspaper publishers can't sell their way out of their current woes. Tribune's board of directors is scheduled to meet late this coming week, and while it is uncertain they will emerge from the meeting with an announcement, company management and advisers are casting aside outside offers and working on what is being billed as a "self-help" plan. That is another way of saying that nobody came to Tribune's rescue. Typically, if a company avoids a takeover, employees and management breathe a sigh of relief and go back to business as usual. But if this auction ends as many expect, Tribune will have to self-inflict the kinds of harsh changes that normally come from an outside buyer. That will mean even steeper cost cutting and asset sales. That is partly because Tribune, along with many other newspaper players, waited too long to take the dramatic action that now is being thrust upon them. Tribune was forced into the auction process by its largest shareholder, the Chandler family, which pushed for action just as panic was building about the industry's prospects. The irony is that the Chandlers were too late. They are angling to remove themselves from the newspaper business they should have gotten out of years ago, when they sold Times Mirror Co. to Tribune in 2000. Today, the options are much more limited.
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB117167599572411895-9e8NuDTiziSHBU...
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* Top Tribune execs given stock (2/17)
In the midst of a tumultuous search for ways to boost the company's stock price, Tribune Co.'s board this week gave top management a large incentive to stick around. At a regular board meeting Tuesday, directors awarded 10 top executives restricted stock worth $12.4 million
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0702170100feb17,0,1704778.sto...