Tribune's Assets Seen as Big Lures for Bidders

TRIBUNE'S ASSETS SEEN AS BIG LURES FOR BIDDERS
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Jerry Hirsch and James Rainey]
The prospect of a breakup of Chicago-based Tribune Co. and its 11 daily newspapers and 26 television stations would draw intense interest from potential buyers despite skepticism among many investors about the value of traditional media. Several media analysts said that if the Chandler family succeeded in forcing a Tribune breakup, it was far more likely the company would be sold off piecemeal rather than to one or two buyers. That's because the larger individual assets -- including the Chicago Cubs baseball team -- are likely to draw interest from local and regional buyers who view them as trophy properties. The allure of Tribune's publishing and broadcast arms is likely to vary by market. Big city television operations generally would be more attractive, whereas newspapers in those markets face growth challenges and competition from mostly free online classified advertising services such as Craig's List. Tribune's major-market TV stations -- WPIX Channel 11 in New York; KTLA in Los Angeles and WGN Channel 9 in Chicago -- probably would be most attractive to private equity funds -- pools of investment money that finance acquisitions -- that have subscribed to the idea of "brand name" value and already are players in several recent media purchases.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fi-buyers15jun15,1,3209331.story?coll=la-news-a_section
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