Filed under: TV

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Oct. 13, 2010 at 11:00 p.m.
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Filed under: Chicago executives, Media, Newspapers, Radio, TV, Work culture

Tribune executive suspended over e-mail

By Phil Rosenthal and Michael Oneal

Tribune Chief Innovation Officer Lee Abrams. (Tribune file photo)

By Phil Rosenthal and Michael Oneal | Tribune Co. Chief Innovation Officer Lee Abrams on Wednesday was placed on indefinite suspension without pay because of a company-wide memo he sent this week with links to off-color satirical videos, which spurred a rash of employee complaints.

“Lee recognizes that the video was in extremely bad taste and that it offended employees,” Randy Michaels, chief executive of the Chicago Tribune’s parent company, said in an e-mail announcing the suspension. “But, this is the kind of serious mistake that can’t be tolerated; we intend to address it promptly and forcefully.” Get the full story »

Oct. 13, 2010 at 5:33 p.m.
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Filed under: Bankruptcy, Media, Newspapers, Radio, TV, Video

Tribune bankruptcy judge extends filing deadlines

By Michael Oneal

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Carey extended the filing deadlines in Tribune Co.’s bankruptcy case Wednesday to give rival creditor groups more time to propose alternative restructuring plans for the Chicago-based media company.

The move will push the first disclosure hearing on those plans into late November and guarantees that the all-important confirmation hearings in the case won’t be held until sometime next year.

Carey had earlier given Tribune Co. and its various creditor constituencies until this Friday to file any restructuring plans. But junior creditors asked that a company-sponsored plan negotiated earlier this week be filed first and that they be given two extra weeks to decide whether to file competing plans. Get the full story »

Oct. 12, 2010 at 9:04 p.m.
82 comments
Filed under: Bankruptcy, Media, Newspapers, TV, Updated

Tribune Co. exec apologizes for ‘offensive’ memo

By Phil Rosenthal

Days after Tribune Co.’s corporate management was characterized in a newspaper article as fostering a sexist “frat house” atmosphere, one of its top executives sent a company-wide e-mail with links to off-color satirical videos.

Among the videos was one the executive, Lee Abrams, labeled “Sluts” in which a gyrating woman appeared to pour liquor on her bare breasts.

Abrams, chief innovation officer of Tribune Co., which owns the Chicago Tribune, apologized “to everyone who was offended” in another company-wide e-mail Tuesday. Get the full story »

Oct. 12, 2010 at 11:05 a.m.
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Filed under: Bankruptcy, Media, TV

Tribune Co. makes progress with several creditors

By Michael Oneal

Tribune Co. and several of its most important creditor groups announced a broad new settlement Tuesday that brings the company closer to resolving its nearly two-year-old bankruptcy case.

The new pact includes a group of senior lenders who had been holding out on a compromise, the company said, as well as the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the case, which represents junior creditors.

Still absent from the settlement, however, are several key junior creditor groups including major bondholder Aurelius Capital Management, a litigious New York hedge fund known for disrupting large bankruptcy cases. Sources close to Aurelius have said the fund plans to file its own plan by the court imposed Oct. 15 deadline. Get the full story »

Oct. 6, 2010 at 10:17 a.m.
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Filed under: Chicago executives, Media, Newspapers, Radio, TV, Updated, Work culture

Tribune Co. CEO: ‘Ignore noise’ of NY Times story

By Phil Rosenthal

Randy Michaels, second from left, with other Tribune Co. executives at a press conference held by Sam Zell in 2007. (Jose More/Chicago Tribune)

Randy Michaels, Chicago Tribune parent Tribune Co.’s chief executive, on Tuesday night sent an e-mail urging employees to “ignore the noise” in anticipation of a New York Times story he expected to “apparently paint the work environment at Tribune as hostile, sexist and otherwise inappropriate.” Get the full story »

Oct. 5, 2010 at 10:20 a.m.
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Filed under: Bankruptcy, Management, Media, Newspapers, Radio, TV, Updated

Eisner says he’d advise, not run, Tribune Co.

By Tribune staff report

Former Disney Co. chief Michael Eisner denied rumors Tuesday morning that he will become chairman of a post-bankruptcy Tribune Co.

In an interview with WGN-720 AM host Greg Jarrett, Eisner acknowledged that he had bought Tribune debt as an investment and knew some of the principals involved, but said a journalist “put 2 and 2 together and got 11″ in speculating that Eisner would move into the top job at Tribune. Get the full story »

Oct. 4, 2010 at 5:28 p.m.
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Filed under: Government, M&A, Media, TV

FCC seeks more information on NBC, Comcast deal

By Associated Press

The Federal Communications Commission is requesting more information from Comcast Corp. and NBC Universal. Regulators are reviewing the cable operator’s plan to acquire a controlling stake in the media company. Get the full story »

Oct. 4, 2010 at 2:48 p.m.
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Filed under: Media, TV

Comcast SportsNet picks up ‘The Dan Patrick Show’

By Phil Rosenthal

Comcast SportsNet Chicago said Monday it is picking up DirecTV’s newly syndicated video simulcast of Fox Sports Radio’s “The Dan Patrick Show.” Patrick’s show will run live, 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. weekdays, beginning Oct. 25.

Oct. 4, 2010 at 11:45 a.m.
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Filed under: Media, Sports, TV

Bears’ loss scores big with Ch. 5

By Phil Rosenthal

Tower Ticker | Even in loss, the Bears are big winners with Chicago  views with more than half the local TVs tuned to WMAQ-Ch.5 during the game Sunday night.

Oct. 4, 2010 at 11:16 a.m.
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Filed under: Advertising/Marketing, Media, Sports, TV

Chevy, Busch lead World Series advertisers

By Reuters

Fox Broadcasting has sold about 90 percent of the commercial time for Major League Baseball’s World Series, with automakers, phone companies and financial services firms buying advertising for postseason games. Get the full story »

Oct. 4, 2010 at 10:34 a.m.
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Filed under: Bankruptcy, Media, Newspapers, Radio, TV

Tribune Co. talks continue; judge weighs failure

By Michael Oneal

The battling parties in Tribune Co.’s fractious bankruptcy case planned to sit down Monday for another day of mediation aimed at forging a settlement of legal claims surrounding the company’s 2007 leveraged buyout.

But at a status hearing in Delaware before the mediation session began, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Carey spent much of his time anticipating how to proceed  assuming the mediation fails. Get the full story »

Oct. 1, 2010 at 1:23 p.m.
4 comments
Filed under: Media, TV

FX, NatGeo off Dish amid haggling over fees

By Tower Ticker

Dish Network’s 14.3 million customers nationwide will have to make do without FX, National Geographic Channel and some other cable channels while the satellite service and News Corp. haggle in the latest corporate struggle over carriage fees.

Sep. 30, 2010 at 1:05 p.m.
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Filed under: Media, TV

Loud TV commercials may soon be illegal

By Tower Ticker

A Senate bill passed unamimously late Wednesday would require television stations and cable companies to limit the volume of ads so they’re consistent with the programs they accompany.

Sep. 30, 2010 at 10:47 a.m.
52 comments
Filed under: Housing, Media, Real estate, TV

Diann Burns selling Lincoln Park mansion

ELITE STREET | By Bob Goldsborough | Eyeing a move to southern California for both professional and personal reasons, former TV anchor Diann Burns and her talent agent husband, Marc Watts, have placed their 13-room, 5,752-square-foot Lincoln Park mansion on the market for $4.825 million.

Burns, 54, was an anchor at top-rated WLS-Ch. 7 for close to two decades before jumping to WBBM-Ch. 2 in 2003. She left “CBS-2″ in 2008 when her contract was not renewed.

Since last spring, she has been hosting the Chicago Urban League’s “Next TV” program,  which airs Sunday mornings on Fox-owned WFLD-Ch. 32. Get the full story »

Sep. 27, 2010 at 2:40 p.m.
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Filed under: Media, Radio, TV

WGN legend Ward Quaal dies

By Phil Rosenthal

Ward Quaal, who was hired in 1941 as a WGN-AM 720 staff announcer and went on to shape that station and WGN-Ch. 9 as an executive of Chicago Tribune parent Tribune Co.’s WGN Contintental Broadcasting, died Friday in an area nursing home. He was 91.

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