New York Times, Tribune Company, NBC Announce Problems Monday

Three major media companies all revealed grim news Monday.

The Tribune Company announced it would be seeking bankruptcy protection:

Media conglomerate Tribune Co., smothered by $13 billion in debt and a drop-off in advertising, on Monday became the first major newspaper publisher to seek bankruptcy protection since the Internet sent the industry into a tailspin.

Most of the company's debt comes from the complex transaction in which the company was taken private, with employee ownership, by real estate mogul Sam Zell last year. Although Tribune's next major debt payment isn't due until June, the company has been in danger of missing financial targets set by its lenders.

The New York Times Company said it would try to ease a cash problem by borrowing up to $225 million against its mid-Manhattan headquarters.

The New York Times Company plans to borrow up to $225 million against its mid-Manhattan headquarters building, to ease a potential cash flow squeeze as the company grapples with tighter credit and shrinking profits.

The company has retained Cushman & Wakefield, the real estate firm, to act as its agent to secure financing, either in the form of a mortgage or a sale-leaseback arrangement, said James M. Follo, the Times Company's chief financial officer.

NBC Universal Chief Jeff Zucker told investors that he was considering scaling back the network's programming hours:

A terrible fall season at NBC is forcing the network to consider scaling back the number of hours it airs programming, Chief Executive Jeff Zucker told an investor conference Monday.

While NBC will continue to fund the creation of pilots, Zucker told analysts at a media investor conference sponsored by UBS that NBC is considering cutting the number of hours or perhaps even the number of nights it provides programming.

Comments

[InfoIs]

Problems
Say out loud Now:
Jesus I believe and I receive
you in my heart please
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[weeklyworldnews]

sadness. you're right... Zell will be fine. However, the other employees (like the other thousands that have been laid off) will not be fine. Times are tough.

I heard that Weekly World News was talking to Zell to but them??

http://www.weeklyworldnews.com/headlines/weekly-world-news-in-talks-to-buy-tribune/

[jpmdevildog]

Zell will be alright, there's already a new buyout on the table:

Zell met with an alien contingency to sell the Tribune to Weekly World News.

http://www.weeklyworldnews.com/headlines/weekly-world-news-in-talks-to-buy-tribune/

[hiprogloho]

The problem with modern network TV is that a new generation of primetime suits are programming for GenX bohemian tastes in a exclusive social agenda of false PC diversity ageism. This doomed TV business model is as foolhardy a plan as Detroit automakers who make gas guzzlers for rednecks or crooked bank lenders patronizing naive poor people who can't afford to pay their inflated home loans.

In a new age of dumbed down entertainment for simple minds, reality show filler keeps the networks afloat. But the same doctor, lawyer and crime drama shows for yuppies who don't have time to watch are a dead end since the idiot box is too passive or static a media forum. It cannot compete with web interactivity and latest e-gadgets which afford us access to what we want away from limited airwaves.

People who actually watch TV wish the ABCs, NBCs and CBSs would just rerun classic oldie lineups of the past instead of only releasing them on DVD. TVLand site message board is full of loyal classic TV consumers waiting for a 24/7 oldie network for retro fan faithful. But media mogul powers that be are still too busy catering to short attention spaned fickle youth who got too many other media options.

[hiprogloho]

(Cont.)

Those of us in our mid 40s who are often ignored miss fair and equal representation in media. But when Hollywood dances to the beat of its own drummer and no longer cares what the largest mature audiences want, then they go bankrupt. They could make a comeback if networks would wake up and realize who their biggest potential viewers are instead of trying to remake and retread tired TV trends.

Once upon a time when Tinsletown promoted and featured all kinds of music and all types of TV shows there was a such thing as marketing demographics. But due to the nepotism and tribalism that dominates Hollywood today, execs no longer listen to real people. LaLaLand no longer can sell quality TV and soap because it is way too busy selling lowbrow mediocrity and hip social agendas.

[hiprogloho]

The problem with modern network TV is that a new generation of primetime suits are programming for GenX bohemian tastes in a exclusive social agenda of false PC diversity ageism. This doomed TV business model is as foolhardy a plan as Detroit automakers who make gas guzzlers for rednecks or crooked bank lenders patronizing naive poor people who can't afford to pay their inflated home loans.

In a new age of dumbed down entertainment for simple minds, reality show filler keeps the networks afloat. But the same doctor, lawyer and crime drama shows for yuppies who don't have time to watch are a dead end since the idiot box is too passive or static a media forum. It cannot compete with web interactivity and latest e-gadgets which afford us access to what we want away from limited airwaves.

People who actually watch TV wish the ABCs, NBCs and CBSs would just rerun classic oldie lineups of the past instead of only releasing them on DVD. TVLand site mesage board is full of loyal classic TV consumers waiting for a 24/7 oldie network for retro fan faithful. But media mogul powers that be are still too busy catering to short attention spaned fickle youth who got too many other media options.

[rubberneck]

The times should fire some of it's very over price opinion writers. Start with Modo.

[mollysgran]

I lost interest in TV over 4 years ago, and only watch a few movies now and then. It is all a waste of time, and caters to dull minds. Books and the internet are the best way to stay informed.

[Indubio]

My lack of interest began in 1989 and I haven't bothered to watch it since. Network and most cable TV sucks big time and it has for a very long time. Anyone recall the promise of cable and how it was sold to an unsuspecting public? TV without commercials! Who wouldn't support that! It lasted a few years when cable companies got government to approve of premium channels and oh by the way the no commercials thing... we were only kidding. Ed Murrow was correct about TV: It has the potential to achieve considerable good but elects to focus on bottom line. Nothing anything any channel could do would bring me back.

[SeanONe]

Yeah who needs the Daily show or the Colbert Report, the Wire, or staying in tune with modern culture when you can read a book from the stone age or a million idiots all blogging about their emotional responses to the republicans and/or cheese.

The NYT is full of garbage written by overpaid hacks who consider getting veronica to her horseriding lessons to be a valid topic of conversation.

[SteveStephens]

I stopped watching network Television when "reality TV" came into voque. Millions of others did too. Too insulting.

[Anda]

I contributed to this mess, I stop my cable long time ago, Started to think on my own, and look what happen,
Bring on the next segment of Dancing with the Stars.

[NightflyLester]

NBC's Zucker reaped what he sowed, said he was programming for 'margin' rather than hits. In TV exec language that means put inexpensive crap on, rather than invest in quality television.

Hey Einstein, why don't you really save some cash and just run test patterns and Krazy Kat cartoon loops? How much do they pay this guy?????

[newhouse1]

The lack of popular culture awareness and cronyism of Zucker and his Women of Troy cohorts is breathtaking. They have run the NBC franchise in the ground, and the MSNBC unit is on life support and only viable with Hardball, Countdown and Maddow. Example of the rampant group think over there: Race to the White House and 1600 Pennsylvania Anenue were busts, so let's take those show's host, David Gregory, and put him in the seat of Meet The Press so he can ruin that franchise too! NBC is rudderless, and leadership is displayed only to the extent of showing the industry what not to do. Olbermann and Dan Patrick as celebrity co-hosts on Sunday Nite Football is a joke; where each takes a turn describing highlights over approximately 2 minutes, literally speaking for maybe 40 seconds each, and for that, they get paid stupid cash. No doubt they all drive really nice Beemers to their Connecticut houses and stop by the ATM to check those six and seven figure balances. But the management over there is simply awful.

[marymarcus]

It's either paranoia or wishful thinking to suspect that there was thought behind this massive economic collapse. But the timing is pretty amazing.

[jensax]

So guys, are we ready to hear the 'D' word yet????

[marymarcus]

Really.

[Knowledgeseeker]

This is why Bush must go before January, if not America could end up Bankrupt....Bush wasted a lot of money on war in Iraq.. money that could possible help us in this financial crisis...

[Casbah]

The irony is it's the so-called business side that's messed up the newspaper business, not the editors and reporters. They are the ones that didn't change their advertising strategy to make the web sites of newspapers profitable. That's their job, not the newsroom. Also, they gutted their brand by cutting back on newsroom staff, making their papers less relevant to readers, esp. local papers, where local news and developments are the key to retaining readers. As for NBC, it's the victim of two things: crappy shows and more segmented audiences, due to cable and the Internet. Boo-freaking-hoo! I shed tears more for quaility journalism than mindless TV shows, that's for sure.