Emerging Tribune Company more a TV powerhouse than newspaper owner

When Tribune Company emerges from its nearly four-year bankruptcy, perhaps as soon as this fall, its extensive portfolio of newspapers, television stations and other media holdings will look roughly the same, but it will be a vastly changed company.

Beyond new ownership, led by two hedge funds and a bank, the company will face a brave new media world where the core value of the Tribune stable of properties is in broadcasting, not publishing, which is the company's heritage. From that perspective, the crushing recession of recent years and inexorable migration of readers and advertising revenue online have transformed the 165-year-old company into a TV station group that also owns newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune. Chicago-based Tribune Co.'s 23 television stations — including WGN-TV in Chicago, KTLA-TV in Los Angeles and WPIX-TV in New York — now represent the majority of the company's cash flow and net worth.