Add one more corporation to the list that have gone from being one multimedia company to two more distinctly-focused companies, with broadcast assets going in one direction and print in another. Tribune Company is the latest.
The Tribune announcement is its second big one in as many weeks – it recently announced plans to pull in 19 television stations in 16 markets from Local TV Holdings in a deal valued at $2.725B.
By the time that deal closes, the television side, to be known as Tribune Company, will have a portfolio consisting of 42 stations in 33 markets. Other properties will include WGN Radio, superstation WGN America, Tribune Studios, Tribune Digital Ventures, Tribune Media Services, its equity interests in Classified Ventures, CareerBuilder, and The TV Food Network, and its valuable portfolio of real estate assets.
The other entitiy, Tribune Publishing Company will own and operate the following Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun, Sun Sentinel (South Florida), Orlando Sentinel, Hartford Courant, The Morning Call and Daily Press.
“Moving to separate our publishing and broadcasting assets into two distinct companies will bring single-minded attention to the journalistic standards, advertising partnerships and digital prospects of our iconic newspapers, while also enabling us to take advantage of the operational and strategic opportunities created by the significant scale we are building in broadcasting,” said Peter Liguori, Tribune’s president and chief executive officer. “In addition, the separation is designed to allow each company to maximize its flexibility and competitiveness in a rapidly changing media environment.”
Ligouri added, “The two companies resulting from this transaction would each have revenues in excess of $1 billion and significant operating cash flow. We expect that this transaction will serve our shareholders and employees well, and put these businesses in a strong position for continued success.”
News Corporation has split in two to separate out broadcast/entertainment and publishing assets; Media General sold all of its newspapers to focus on television and digital; and Belo Corporation long ago split its print and broadcast wings, and has recently announced the sale of its broadcast wing to Gannett.
RBR-TVBR observation: It’s interesting that some watchdogs are still fretting about broadcast/print cross-ownership when in truth the only noticeable trend is the splitting of such combinations.
Perhaps a watchdog organization somewhere will write something like this: “Tribune strikes a blow for consumers and diversity by splitting television and newspaper conglomerations.”
Think we’ll see that? Naaahhh.
