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Sam Zell in February of 2008. (Charles Osgood/Tribune)
An attorney for billionaire developer Sam Zell, who engineered a buyout that left Tribune Co. saddled with debt, says proposals to reorganize the media company’s finances aren’t fair to his client.
Attorney David Bradford says the proposals do not adequately protect Zell from lawsuits that threaten to injure his reputation and waste Tribune’s assets. Get the full story »
Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert, WTTW-Ch. 11 reporter Elizabeth Brackett and former Chicago Tribune correspondent Richard C. Longworth will be honored as lifetime achievement award winners next month’s Peter Lisagor Awards dinner, the Chicago Headline Club has announced.
A hearing to determine the fate of the Tribune Co.’s proposed reorganization plan resumed Tuesday with attorneys for Tribune and attorneys for noteholders who have submitted a competing plan continuing to squabble over technical issues. The judge again signaled his desire for a conclusion to the Chapter 11 case, which has dragged on for more than two years. Get the full story »
A Delaware bankruptcy judge has resumed a hearing to determine whether he should approve Tribune Co.’s proposed reorganization plan. Get the full story »
A commuter reads a Kindle while riding the subway in Cambridge, Mass. (Reuters/Brian Snyder)
Amazon announced its new “Kindle with Special Offers“ on Monday which will sell for $114, which is $25 less than its ad-free counterpart, Amazon’s $139 Kindle Wi-Fi. The Kindle 3G is available for $189. It will begin shipping May 3.
The Kindle’s “special offers” and ads will appear on the e-reader’s screensaver and at the bottom of its home screen. Amazon plans to mix together advertisements from launch sponsors including Buick, Olay and Visa with daily-deal style discount coupons. Get the full story »
Aurelius Capital Management said Tribune Co. must call a halt to confirmation proceedings on its Chapter 11 plan, which are set to resume Tuesday in a Delaware bankruptcy court. Get the full story »
Aurelius Capital Management, the largest junior creditor in the Tribune Co. bankruptcy case, on Monday amended its proposed plan for restructuring the media company in an attempt to make the plan more palatable to senior creditors and the judge presiding over the Chapter 11 proceedings. Get the full story »
Tower Ticker | David Lauter, an assistant managing editor at the Los Angeles Times, has been named the new bureau chief of Tribune Co.’s unified Washington Bureau.
Lauter replaces Kerry Luft, who is returning to the company’s flagship Chicago Tribune as senior editor whose responsibilities will include coordination of 2012 national campaign coverage.
Beginning at 1 p.m. CST Monday, The New York Times will end free access to its Web site for non-subscribers. In erecting a paywall, executives at the Times are trying to walk a fine line: generate subscription revenue from avid readers willing to pay, while still retaining more the casual customers who boost advertising revenue with their clicks.
Analyzing online readership habits and polling data led the Times to set that fine line at 20 articles every four weeks. Click on fewer and you’ll have free access — but to get article #21, you’ll have to pay up. Get the full story »
Media veterans Steven Brill and Gordon Crovitz sold their company Journalism Online that helps publishers charge for content to printing services firm R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co. R.R. Donnelley did not disclose terms of the acquisition Thursday. Get the full story »
USA Today, a newspaper created nearly 30 years ago to appeal to people who grew up watching television, is revising its formula to try to counter the Internet’s threat to its survival.
The nation’s second-largest newspaper is expanding its coverage of advertising-friendly topics, designing content for smartphones and tablet computers and refreshing the look of its print edition, whose circulation has fallen by 20 percent during the past three years. Get the full story »
From Bloomberg News | A Bankruptcy Court judge ruled Tuesday that creditors can file state suits against former Tribune Co. shareholders who netted billions of dollars when the media company was taken private in 2007. Federal lawsuits are under way on the matter. The company filed for Chapter 11 in 2008.
The Chicago Sun Times building at 350 N.Orleans Street. (Nuccio DiNuzzo/Chicago Tribune)
A day after the death of Sun-Times Media Chairman James Tyree, who led the effort to save the local media company from liquidation 17 months ago, the company’s flagship Chicago Sun-Times on Thursday laid off several newsroom employees.
“That was something that had been planned for a while. It certainly had nothing to do with yesterday’s news,” said Jeremy Halbreich, Sun-Times Media’s chief executive .
Sources said they believed the reduction affected four staff members, but Halbreich did not confirm an exact figure. The cuts, he said, were part of an ongoing effort to centralize certain operations among the company’s many area publications.
The New York Times Co. said it will launch a long-planned digital paywall this month to boost revenue at its flagship newspaper, as the media company seeks to reverse the effect of industry-wide declines that have pulled down its top line. Get the full story »
Eddy Hartenstein in 2008. (Anne Cusack/Los Angeles Times)
The publisher and CEO of the Los Angeles Times says it’s important that the Tribune Co. emerge from bankruptcy protection as soon as possible.
Eddy Hartenstein, also a co-president of Tribune Co., testified Monday that the cloud of bankruptcy is hurting Tribune’s ability to keep and attract employees and to forge partnerships to help it compete in the rapidly-changing media industry.
Hartenstein was the final Tribune witness in a hearing to determine whether a Delaware judge will approve the company’s reorganization plan. Noteholders who have submitted their own plan will present their case later. Get the full story »
