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Tribune creditors seek information on buyout

Attorneys for creditors who oppose the Tribune Co.’s proposed reorganization plan are seeking more information related to the 2007 leveraged buyout that left the media conglomerate saddled with debt. Get the full story »

Tribune creditor seeks details on Morgan holdings

Wall Street Journal | Creditor Aurelius Capital Management has amped up its opposition to the Tribune Co.’s Chapter 11 plan, demanding a full accounting of the media holdings of JP Morgan’s media holdings.

Staff cuts continue at Pioneer Press newspapers

Tower Ticker | Sun-Times Media’s Pioneer Press group of weekly suburban newspapers has continued to reduce its workforce, including elimination of nine editorial positions in recent days.

Eight newsroom staff members were let go, while another retired and will not be replaced, sources said. Five were reporters and the retiree was an editorial assistant. The others were said to include page designers and a Web content manager.

Jeremy Halbreich, chief executive and vice chairman of Sun-Times Media, was unavailable for immediate comment.

News Corp., Apple delay launch of iPad newspaper

News Corp. is pushing back the launch of the world’s first iPad-only newspaper.

The company declined to comment on why. But a person familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Friday that News Corp. and iPad maker Apple Inc. have decided to delay the launch while they work on the technology involved in providing subscriptions. Get the full story »

Journalists to launch News Corp.’s iPad newspaper

Rupert Murdoch and Steve Jobs are expected unveil "The Daily" together. (Getty)

Stop the presses — completely. The world’s first iPad newspaper, The Daily, is prepping for launch. Journalists have been hired and are in place at multiple U.S. bureaus, including Los Angeles and New York.

The formal announcement of the digital publication owned by News Corp. will be made at an event at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art on Jan. 19, according to two people familiar with the matter. The people said the event will be attended by Steve Jobs, chief executive of iPad-maker Apple Inc., and Rupert Murdoch, CEO of News Corp. Get the full story »

Hearing set in Conrad Black’s bid to remain free

Conrad Black enters a Chicago court room in 2007. (Tribune file)

Will former media mogul Conrad Black eventually head back to prison? Or will the flamboyant, 66-year-old’s long-running legal saga end with a judge setting him free for good? A status hearing Thursday in Chicago isn’t likely to answer those questions definitively, though it could provide clues about what U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve is inclined to do.

Two years into a 6 1/2-year sentence, Black was released last year from a Florida prison while he appealed his conviction for defrauding Hollinger International Inc. investors. Black, whose media empire once included the Chicago Sun-Times, The Daily Telegraph of London and community papers in the U.S. and Canada, was expected to attend Thursday’s hearing. Get the full story »

Tribune Co. buys Naperville Magazine

Tribune Co. said Tuesday that its Chicago subsidiary has acquired Naperville Magazine, a lifestyle monthly devoted to the Illinois suburb of the same name. Get the full story »

ABC News chief open to Bloomberg partnership

The new head of ABC News said Monday he was open to a possible partnership with Bloomberg News as the news network seeks to expand its links with social and other media after a major restructuring in 2010.

Ben Sherwood, appointed president of ABC News in December, told television journalists at the Television Critics’ Association meetings in Pasadena that he wanted the network’s news division to expand its links with Facebook and other organizations. Get the full story »

Chicago Magazine hires Reader’s Whet Moser

Chicago Magazine has hired the Chicago Reader’s Whet Moser as associate digital editor for its chicagomag.com Web site. Chicago Magazine is part of Tribune Co.’s Chicago Tribune Media Group.

Tribune rolling out news app for Microsoft tablets

Mosiac app. (Tribune)

The Tribune Co., publisher of the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune, is rolling out a news-reading application that will run on a new line of Microsoft-based tablet computers.

The app, called Mosaic, creates a moving set of touchable photographs that, when tapped, reveals the headline associated with the photo and allows the user to open and read the article.

“It’s a very different, visual way for readers to sort through and personalize how they want to see news delivered,” said Eddy Hartenstein, the Tribune’s co-president. “You just touch it and it blossoms.” Get the full story »

Sun-Times Media creates new digital operation

From News & Tech | Sun-Times Media announced on Tuesday the creation of a new business operation called STM Digital, which will have responsibility for all Sun-Times Media online, mobile and other digital content publication and advertising businesses.

Sun-Times halts delivery to more newsstands

From Crain’s Chicago Business | The Chicago Sun-Times will leave stores and restaurants in Michigan’s Harbor Country and on the Wisconsin border without a Sunday edition, as part of its plan to stop delivering its Sunday paper to newsstands outside the six-county Chicago area and two counties in Indiana.

Google exploring digital newsstand

Google Inc. and Apple Inc. have stepped up their battle to win over publishers, as the two companies vie to become the dominant distributor of newspapers and magazines for tablet computers and other mobile devices.

Google is trying to drum up publishers’ support for a new Google-operated digital newsstand for users of devices that run its Android software. With the effort, it is chasing Apple, which already sells digital versions of many major magazines and newspapers through its iTunes store. Get the full story »

Study: Web users willing to pay for some things

The Web may seem like the land of something for nothing. Free video. Free news. Even free tools such as word processing and spreadsheets.

But almost two-thirds of adult Internet users in the U.S. have paid for access to at least one of these intangible items online, according to a new survey from the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Get the full story »

Gerry Spector exiting as COO of Tribune Co.

Tribune Co. Chief Operating Officer Gerry Spector, a long-time associate of real estate billionaire Sam Zell, is leaving the Chicago-based media company he has helped lead since Zell took it private three years ago.