Filed under: Media

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Yesterday at 11:47 a.m.
38 comments
Filed under: Bankruptcy, Executives, Media, Updated

Tribune Co. asks for golden parachutes for top execs

By Michael Oneal

Tribune Co. proposed paying its top 43 executives a severance package of cash and benefits if they are asked by a new board to leave the company after the Chicago-based media conglomerate emerges from bankruptcy.

The company didn’t put a price tag on the package, but said it amounts to 2.5 times salary and bonus for Chief Executive Randy Michaels, and 2.25 times salary and bonus for Chief Operating Officer Gerry Spector. Both would be entitled to 24 months of the company’s group health benefits.

Nine other top executives, including Tony Hunter, the publisher of the Chicago Tribune, and Eddy Hartenstein, publisher of the Los Angeles Times, would get 1.75 times salary and bonus plus 24 months of benefits. A list of 32 others would get 1.5 times salary and 18 months of benefits.

Tribune Co. filed the plan late Thursday as part of a supplement to its plan of reorganization.
Get the full story »

Thursday at 5:48 p.m.
1 comment
Filed under: Bankruptcy, Media, Updated

Tribune judge allows some access to report

By Michael Oneal

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Carey signed an order providing certain key parties access to the full examiner’s report in the Tribune Co. bankruptcy case so they can evaluate its momentous conclusions before an Aug. 6 voting deadline.

He also indicated he might move the deadline out by a few days, but said he was determined not to disrupt the schedule for confirmation hearings on the Tribune Co. plan which are slated to begin Aug. 30.

Carey stopped short of ordering full public disclosure of the report. But he indicated he would prefer to make it public if parties in the case can resolve a series of confidentiality disputes raised by several big lenders to Tribune Co.’s ill-fated 2007 leveraged buyout, which was led by Chicago real estate magnate Sam Zell. Get the full story »

Thursday at 1:56 p.m.
Filed under: Media

WFLD moves its earliest newscast to 4:30 a.m.

By Phil Rosenthal

The latest news on the earliest news is that there will be yet one more local newscast starting before the sun — like most viewers — is up. WFLD-Ch. 32 on Thursday said it too will move the start of its early weekday morning newscast with Dawn Hasbrouck and Kori Chambers up a half-hour to 4:30 a.m., beginning Monday.

Thursday at 10:56 a.m.
Filed under: Media, Personnel moves

Bill and Walter are back on Ch. 2

By Tower Ticker

Bill Kurtis and Walter Jacobson are returning to the anchor chairs on WBBM-TV Ch. 2 in a bid to revive the station’s news ratings.

Thursday at 10:20 a.m.
1 comment
Filed under: Advertising/Marketing, Internet, Media, Telecommunications

Guy who saved Comcast via Twitter leaves for Citi

By McClatchy Tribune Newspapers

Goodbye, Comcast Twitter guy.

Frank Eliason, the social-media apostle who responded to tens of thousands of online Comcast Corp. customer complaints in the last two years, is leaving the cable company to help banking giant Citigroup Inc. connect with customers online. Get the full story »

Wednesday at 3:43 p.m.
Filed under: Media, Personnel moves

Reporter/anchor Pender out at Ch. 32

By Tower Ticker

Nancy Pender is set to leave WFLD-Ch. 32 next month after 13 years as a reporter and weekend anchor at the Fox-owned station.

A Channel 32 spokeswoman confirmed Wednesday that Pender’s contract is not being renewed.

Wednesday at 2:14 p.m.
1 comment
Filed under: Entertainment, Media, Technology

British pay TV company takes next step in 3D

By Dow Jones Newswires

British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC Wednesday confirmed it plans to launch a 3D television channel for consumer subscribers Oct. 1.

BSkyB, the U.K.’s biggest pay-television provider, said customers who pay for its top-tier subscription package and have Sky + high-definition compatible set-top boxes  would get the 3D channel free of charge. The company may later allow  subscribers on lower-cost packages to obtain the service, a spokesman said. Get the full story »

Wednesday at 6:31 a.m.
1 comment
Filed under: Earnings, Entertainment, Internet, M&A, Media, Telecommunications

Comcast 2Q profit down on NBC-related expenses

By Reuters

Comcast Corp., the No. 1 U.S. cable operator, reported a nearly 9 percent decline in quarterly profit as it absorbed expenses related to its highly anticipated acquisition of NBC Universal.

While costs associated with the deal, including professional fees, undercut the cable company’s overall profit, its revenue rose a higher-than-expected 6 percent as it continued to add Internet and telephone customers. Get the full story »

Tuesday at 5:08 a.m.
Filed under: Bankruptcy, Media

Examiner Kenneth Klee: Tribune buyout ‘marred’

By Michael Oneal

The court-appointed examiner in Tribune Co.’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy case determined that the company’s 2007 leveraged buyout was “marred” by the “dishonesty and lack of candor” of its then-senior management, and that the deal rendered the media conglomerate insolvent from the moment the two-step transaction closed.

Monday at 4:24 p.m.
6 comments
Filed under: Bankruptcy, Media, Updated

Tribune Co. warns of more bankruptcy delays

By Michael Oneal

Tribune Co. warned Monday that its nearly 20-month-old bankruptcy proceeding could be delayed again over a brewing dispute involving the release of a court-appointed examiner’s report in the case.

The report, which is being prepared by Los Angeles lawyer Kenneth Klee, is due before midnight Monday. But in a filing Friday, Klee said wrangling with various parties over the confidentiality of documents attached to his report would force him to submit a heavily redacted version, pending a judge’s ruling on the issue. Get the full story »

Monday at 12:18 p.m.
11 comments
Filed under: Bankruptcy, Litigation, Media, Updated

Under pressure, Tribune cuts back on bonuses

By Michael Oneal

Under pressure from its creditors and unions, bankrupt Tribune Co. agreed to cut back on the bonuses it would pay under its proposed 2010 management incentive plan.

The move comes as Chicago-based Tribune Co. seeks to win approval from creditors for a reorganization plan that would allow it to exit a bankruptcy case that has dragged on for almost 20 months. Get the full story »

July 22 at 11:13 a.m.
Filed under: Media

WFLD-Ch. 32 teams Davlantes, McPherrin

By Phil Rosenthal

Anna Davlantes, whose ambition led her to WFLD-Ch. 32’s marquee 9 p.m. newscast as a reporter and contributing anchor last fall after bolting WMAQ-Ch. 5, is moving off that program to become co-host of of Channel 32’s three-hour morning news with newly converted sportscaster Corey McPherrin, effective Aug. 2.

July 22 at 5:49 a.m.
Filed under: Media

Kate Sullivan new anchor at WBBM-Ch. 2

By Tower Ticker

Kate Sullivan, a morning anchor at CBS New York flagship WCBS-TV, is headed to Chicago’s perennially struggling, oft-changing WBBM-Ch. 2, according to multiple reports.

Sullivan will be teamed with Rob Johnson on Channel 2’s 10 p.m. weeknight newscast after Labor Day, a Chicago Public Media report said. CBS-owned WBBM had no immediate comment, although staffers reportedly were told Wednesday.

July 21 at 2:30 p.m.
5 comments
Filed under: Crime, Criminal charges, Executives, Litigation, Media

Conrad Black posts bond, leaves prison

By Ameet Sachdev

Conrad Black left a Florida prison Wednesday, after a Chicago federal judge ordered his release on a $2 million bond pending a review of his 2007 fraud conviction.

U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve ordered Black, who once controlled a media company that owned the Chicago Sun-Times, to appear in her courtroom at 12:30 p.m. Friday, to go over the conditions of his release. Get the full story »

July 20 at 10:56 a.m.
21 comments
Filed under: Advertising/Marketing, Internet, Media, Updated

Playboy launches ’safe-for-work’ site

By Michael Oneal

Looking to expand viewership among those who might court a lawsuit if they fired up the regular Playboy.com site at work, Playboy Enterprises Inc. today announced something called TheSmokingJacket.com, which the company bills as a “new safe-for-work men’s entertainment destination that provides guys with smart and sexy distractions throughout the day.”

Safe for work means no nudity, but plenty of Playboy-style hormonal prurience. One of the lead stories on the site: “How to Get Laid at Work.” Another: “7 Signs That You’ve given Up on Getting Laid.” Playboy founder Hugh Hefner greets viewers to the site in a weird little 21-second video of him sitting on a couch in, yes, his trademark smoking jacket.

“Next to the mansion it’s the best hang out on the planet,” Hefner says of the new site. Get the full story »

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