| 
Tribune
and Local TV to Form Broadcast Management Company
Randy
Michaels and Bobby Lawrence to create joint platform
CHICAGO Dec.
20, 2007 -- Tribune
Company and Local TV have entered into a letter of intent
to create a third-party broadcast management company
which will provide shared services to all of the stations
Local TV and Tribune Company own, respectively.
The company will function as a wholly-owned
subsidiary of Tribune Company, and will provide back-office
services, administration and a number of other functions
to the stations with the goal of maximizing efficiencies,
sharing best practices and fostering innovation.
Randy Michaels, who was just named CEO
of Tribune Company’s
Interactive and Broadcasting business unit, will head the
company. This combination will allow Michaels and Lawrence
to build on the great track record they have established
in their careers together.
"Tribune and Local TV expect to realize
significant savings in management, technology, and other
overhead costs," said
Michaels. "Things like research and development and
automation technology are more efficient on a large platform. All
of the stations get to share the benefits. We are going
to find new ways to operate smarter, cheaper, and more efficiently."
While the new management company will
serve stations across various owners, Tribune Company and
Local TV will maintain their own board of directors, senior
management, financial structure, shareholders, station
management, programming, and network affiliations. The
functions that are common across corporate headquarters
will be combined in a transparent manner to both companies.
"The company will immediately focus on
back office and administrative functions," adds Lawrence.
"Then we will move to creating specialized knowledge teams
for TV assets, addressing market-specific challenges and
opportunities with special swat teams, developing vertical
and homegrown content, and finding new ways to deploy capital.
And that is just the beginning."
The new broadcast services company will
serve Tribune’s
23 large and mid-size stations, and Local TV’s nine
small and mid-market stations. The management company
will also look towards serving potential third-party-owned
stations in the future.
:: :: ::
TRIBUNE (NYSE:TRB) is one of the country’s
top media companies, operating businesses in publishing,
interactive and broadcasting. It reaches more than 80 percent
of U.S. households and is the only media organization with
newspapers, television stations and websites in the nation’s
top three markets. In publishing, Tribune’s leading
daily newspapers include the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune,
Newsday (Long Island, N.Y.), The Sun (Baltimore), South Florida
Sun-Sentinel, Orlando Sentinel and Hartford Courant. The
company’s broadcasting group operates 23 television
stations, Superstation WGN on national cable, Chicago’s
WGN-AM and the Chicago Cubs baseball team. |
