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Associated Press | The judge presiding over the Tribune Co.’s
bankruptcy case has appointed an independent examiner to review the 2007
leveraged buyout of the media conglomerate.
The judge on Monday approved the U.S. trustee’s selection of Kenneth
Klee, a California bankruptcy lawyer and law professor at UCLA, as
examiner.
Associated Press | Borders Group Inc. has begun taking orders
for the Kobo electronic book reader and pushing it at a lower price
than competing devices. Borders also said Friday that its e-bookstore
and software will be available beginning in June.
The Kobo e-reader device will retail for $149.99 and come preloaded
with 100 “classic” books, the bookseller said. Friday. Borders’
e-bookstore and e-reader software will run on Kobo technology. It will
run on the Kobo device as well as most smartphones, personal computers
and Apple Inc.’s iPad.
Associated Press | R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co. said Wednesday
that its first-quarter net income more than tripled as expense cuts
outweighed a decline in sales.
The printing company earned $52.6 million, or 25 cents per share, for
the three months ended March 31. That’s up from last year’s profit of
$13.9 million, or 7 cents per share.
McClatchy-Tribune Newspapers | Google Inc. plans to begin
selling e-books this summer over a platform that would allow readers to
load the books onto multiple electronic devices, the company said
Tuesday.
The search giant outlined the plan during a panel discussion in New
York that was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. The service is
called Google Editions and will allow users to buy e-books directly
from the company, as well as through other retailers.
By Julie Wernau | The Chicago Free Press — one of two newspapers in the city geared
toward a gay audience — has ceased publication after paychecks stopped
for more than a month and attempts to reach the newspaper’s publisher
proved unsuccessful, Managing Editor Kerrie Kennedy said Monday.
Kennedy broke the news this morning with a statement posted on
ChicagoPride.com.
“Due to health problems, publisher David Costanzo is no longer funding
the operation of Chicago Free Press. Consequently, the paper’s April 29
issue was not published, and it is not expected that any additional
issues will be published,” Kennedy wrote.
From Reuters | A U.S. Trustee has appointed attorney Kenneth Klee
to look into whether Sam Zell’s 2007 leveraged buyout of
Tribune Co. left the media company insolvent. Klee is an attorney at
Los
Angeles-based law firm Klee, Tuchin, Bogdanoff & Stern LLP., and also teaches bankruptcy law at the University of California at
Los Angeles.
Get the full story: reuters.com.
From the Winnipeg Free Press | Lawyers for Conrad Black will appear in an Ontario, Canada appeals court today to argue that six libel lawsuits should proceed allowing him to refute statements published on the Sun-Times Media Inc. website about his use of Hollinger shareholder money. One document listed in the suit was a 2004 report from a special committee of Hollinger International that said Black “looted” the company and that he ran a “corporate kleptocracy.”
Get the full story: winnipegfreepress.com
Tower Ticker | Chicago Tribune parent Tribune Co. today filed a series of applications with the Federal Communications Commission necessary to emerge from bankruptcy protection with its broadcast portfolio intact.
Tribune Co., which owns radio station WGN-AM 720 and 23 television stations in 19 markets, including Chicago’s WGN-Ch. 9, seeks to maintain the status quo with regard to operating its broadcast assets. This will require the FCC to sign off on assignment of their broadcast licenses to the reorganized, post-bankruptcy iteration of Tribune Co., along with continued cross-ownership waivers.
Get the full story: Tower Ticker.
By Phil Rosenthal | When Kevin Roy missed what would have been a solo anchor shift early Sunday on WLS-Ch. 7, it marked his third such episode and it turned out to be his last at the ABC-owned station.
Channel 7 decided it had been through enough drama and, with his contract set to expire later this year, bid Roy adieu. Roy, in a statement, blamed “physical exhaustion” and said he was “profoundly sorry” his 11 1/2-year run at WLS was coming to an end, but he understood.
Get the full story: Tower Ticker
Associated Press | You’ve got a new owner, Charlie Brown. E.W.
Scripps Co. said Tuesday it will sell the unit that owns the licensing
rights to Snoopy, Charlie Brown and the rest of the “Peanuts” gang for
$175 million to Joe Boxer owner Iconix Brand Group Inc.
The sale of United Media Licensing also means Iconix has a new
partnership with the family of the late “Peanuts” creator, Charles
Schulz. They’ll receive 20 percent ownership in the unit that owns
“Peanuts” and pay that percentage of the sale price.
Associated Press | The Hollywood sign has been spared from urban
sprawl and will stand unobscured to welcome future actors, writers and
Austrian bodybuilders, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Monday.
The actor-turned politician said a $900,000 donation by Playboy founder
Hugh Hefner and a $500,000 matching grant capped a $12.5 million
fundraising drive to protect 138 acres (56 hectares) near the famous
sign from the development of luxury estates. Schwarzenegger called it “the Hollywood ending we hoped for.”
From Reuters | BlackBerry manufacturer Research in Motion is tweaking its smartphone while hinting that a new operating system is on the way.
Read the full story: reuters.com
By Phil Rosenthal | Sun-Times Media Group’s North Shore magazine has been acquired by Make It Better, a Web site and magazine founded by Susan B. Noyes, a former labor lawyer with Sidley & Austin, New Trier Township High School board member and North Shore columnist.
Read the full story: Tower Ticker
By Phil Rosenthal | The latest news is old news in the newspaper business: Paid circulation at the nation’s daily newspapers continued to decline in the six-month period ending in March, according to figures released today by the Arlington Heights-based Audit Bureau of Circulations.
Get the full story: Tower Ticker.
Associated Press | Playboy has named Christoph Pachler chief financial officer and
executive vice president, filling a post that has been vacant since
last year. Pachler, 43, will start his new job on May 24, the company
said Monday. He currently serves as senior vice president of strategy
and operations at Sony Pictures Entertainment.
