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

[MetalCanuck]

Oh this makes me happy:) Down with old media, CANCEL YOUR CABLE!

[proudandtrue]

NBC's decision to cut back on programming is the best news of this recession. Instead of watching crap maybe people will begin to read. or converse with family members. or walk outside.

[RogerRantjet]

Does anyone else sense that we're witnessing the fabled "domino effect" happening on a daily basis right before our eyes? It started visibly on the morning of Sep.15th and has been accelerating and getting more widespread since. Now it's affecting sectors of the economy that on the surface would seem to be unconnected...but it's becoming glaringly apparent that every sector across the spectrum of our economy is deeply intertwined. We've gone from banking, investment house and insurance company failures to the auto industry and now we're into major newspapers and television networks. I mean we're talking about corporations that have been around for several generations and in many cases have been the bedrock of American productivity and wealth. As of now, I'm hard-pressed to think of ANY major business concern in this country that hasn't already gone under or is in imminent danger of doing so. I have to conclude that we've ALREADY passed the point of no return and the American way of life as we've known it has undergone a major upheaval. What it will look like after a reboot is anybody's guess.

No "chicken-little" reaction here. Just removing any trace of sugar coating and seeing stark reality as it reveals itself.

[THISTLE]

I share your observations and this is really getting to be terrifying, and that's not an over reaction.
It seems like a really bad movie, and we aren't at all sure how this is going to end.
Industry after industry is in deep deep trouble, how did this happen?
And what are the answers. President Elect Obama said, "it will get worse," what does that mean?
He needs to tell us what that means and tell us now...

[MetalCanuck]

Its finished thats what it means, the same people who got ya 7 years ago as still running America in to the ground and America is in collective denial of reality.

[Knowledgeseeker]

we need to expel Bush from the White house

[JimBozo]

Why not ask George W. Bush? Obama wasn't it charge of this goat rodeo- he's only stepping into the leadership role we've been sadly lacking for the past 8 years.

[MetalCanuck]

THIS is what Ron Paul has been saying, you are going bankrupt...possible in Canada and many other countries as well and this was PLANNED. The crooks that did 9/11 are still running the show, don't you think they would come back for more and they are not Arabs either. Its just happening so perfectly and people choose not to see reality...well here is the price people pay.

[StellaDuBois]

When the auto industry started out Henry Ford realized he had limited market for product if people like his workers could not afford to purchase it. He implemented an unheard of $5 daily wage. Wall Street and the business world excoriated Ford and averred he would go out of business. Instead business thrived, as did other businesses where workers could spend their wages. They bought houses, fed and clothed their families. They weren't rich but had what they needed. Even Ford himself didn't live in the high manner his wealth afforded him. He set up medical clinics and hospitals so his employees could get care. His family contributed (and still contributes) to the community. His belief was one foot in industry and one foot in the soil would keep us strong. Wealth was not consolidated at the top.

The country needs to embrace this thinking and reject Wall Street's. Wealth has become so consolidated now workers can no longer buy and many are forced to credit in order to live. Granted there are some who overdo but the norm is stagnant or falling wages and job losses in the face of rising costs. The Wall Street/MBA/free market paradigm is a failure except for those at the top. The country cannot survive this condition - this leads to instability and revolution.

Workers are the strength of the country. I hope Obama doesn't lose sight of that now and will implement policies accordingly.

[willwallace]

This company has been in trouble for quite a while, it did not surprise me.

[roybattyjunior]

Good. 30 years of unfettered corporatism is following its master, Milton Friedman, to the grave. A fitting quote for his toxic legacy:

"O, what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practice to deceive!"

[carolsstudio]

Millions of trees around the world just cried out "yippee".

As far as NBC goes, I suppose all the hours of mindless brain draining
reality programming is taking it's toll. If they would treat the viewing public as
if it had a brain with a desire to be challenged then maybe rating would go up.

Another thing, I suggest less commercials, instead charge more for sponsoring
programming then watching network television would be more enjoyable.

[rhettisha]

People, I'm telling you: plant vegetable gardens. Soon there will be no food in stores. It's building up.

[StellaDuBois]

Fodd will be there but no one will be able to afford it.

[steve12]

I stopped taking a daily paper 2 years ago. I prefer the hyperlinked and diverse nature of the web for my news. I can't tell you the last time that I viewed a nightly network news program. I like watching programs like Countdown and Rachel Maddow and listening to programs via podcast, so I can decide when to listen and where.

I still like my Meet the Press and This Week on Sunday morning, but none of the young people that I know ever listen to these programs.

I don't know the answer; however, my guess is that they need to make internet advertising pay more and need to base it more on customer's personal data. If you don't want to give your data, you're not going to be able to view the program or access the web site.

They're going to need to make programs edgier, because the old will eventually die and where will Fox, CNN, CBS, NBC, and ABC go. The average age of these viewers are generally 60 and above. They need to speak truth to power and they need to get us the truth, not this hogwash that we got right after 9-11 and then they need to deliver it all the various forms that people want to get their news.

[Hoisin]

People arent going to subscribe to a new source that constantly shows its favorite political views in one light and opposing views in another. Media bias isnt what is said, its what isnt said and why a story favorable to the opposite political party shows up "below the fold". A good example is when Bush "stole the election". The Washington Post constantly put damning headlines about Republican who were trying to get votes kicked out over chads, yet suddenly when Democrat tried to not have military votes count, because they arrived late from sea, the Headline was "Dems, Republiclans trade Barbs", not "Demcrats seek to block votes" as would have been inline with how they framed the same actions by Republicans.

[sunzen]

With all of these iconic failures happening all around us...i wonder how long it will take before we start seeing civil unrest? I saw that they were bringing 20,000 troops back to the US to guard against "terrorism" I think they see the writing on the wall...it is a warning sign of things to come. They have been building urban warfare training sites around the country. When this thing starts crashing again be ready. Because they are ready to herd us....rise of the sheep 2008

[uncc49er]

well, the end of newspaper reading is slowly arriving. Technology has changed people's habits over time, but newspapers didn't change much. I don't think within the next decades anybody gets the news by reading a paper rather an electronic gadget. May be papers need to think about that gadget.

[DumbDad]

Sounds about right. What worries me, though, is the loss of the NEWS. I can get the stuff i'm looking for more or less right here, but the people who take the local paper are noticeably less informed about everything than the ones who take the Observer, 49er. news is expensive. And it needs to be exhibited, not just cached.

[CarolinaDem]

GO Panthers!!

[WhiteDelyte]

can I get a bailout?? Im only $200,000 in the hole.
comparative pennies to other bailouts.
-Plus- my family can continue to live in a house

[mhopgood123]

Maybe we can satrt a bailout program here at HP for the readers who are in trouble..I am not kidding!I'll be glad to contribute to a pool of money.

[NewsWorthyBee]

Junk Journalism and programming has finally caught up and bitten them in they're asses...find yourselves spots next to Davey Joneses Locker will ya'.....

[MrSolo]

NBC Universal deserves all of the misery it's getting and is going to get. Zucker is an idiot, doesn't have a clue about new media, and could care less about the company's real ills - e.g., its bloated greedy management structure. Have no sympathy for a company that's more interested in replacing its home-grown American technical brains with sub-par robot-like Asian Indian substitutes. One visit to NBC's main offices in New York or Los Angeles yields a crusty overgrowth of arrogant, narcissistic and pig-headed "I'm entitled to" phonies who are more interested in making industry connections and faking work after standard 10am-7pm studio hours than they are in producing unbiased products for the "intelligent" viewing consumer community. Let these folks crap in their pants, and then give them sandpaper instead of toilet paper. ...the sorry bastards.

[mhopgood123]

I take it you are noft a fan of NBC

[JimBozo]

All the corporate media have demonstrated since the start of the recent presidential campaign is that they are not only totally irrelevant, but anti-American. They richly deserve
their ignominous deaths. I want to know the truth, and I will find it, no matter how much effort it requires. I will not find it through merely switching to channel 4 or 5 or 8, or whatever. It all sucks, and their failure to deliver the truth should result in their richly-deserved deaths.

The NYT, through their buying into the Bush crap in previous elections and wars, do not deserve to live, nor do the cable news channels. Fox is merely the worst example. No bailout for the pseudo-news media! Let them die a natural death.

[THISTLE]

Except those "sorry bastards," as you call them, will walk away with millions, but all
the people under them will be left out in the cold. No matter how badly these idiots run
these companies, they are rewarded, while the little guy is tossed out with nothing.

[Stashpanache]

Maybe because I am not young, but I still like my paper copy of the newspaper with a good cup of coffee (or 3) in the morning. I do like online but it does not take the place of a good paper. I do wish we could have both. Television news went straight downhill when those in charge decided the news depts had to make a profit. So, now we have no news bureaus to speak of.

I can read a good newspaper from page one to the back of the last section in a reasonable period of time. But, to get that much information online, I waste hours. I consider my online reading a luxury. The newspaper is a necessity. JMHO

[mhopgood123]

The same here....There is nothing like a newspaper in the morning with a cup of coffee. Ah........

[Enid]

Do I smell another bailout ?

[JeffE]

When will GE get wise to the fact that Zucker's the problem? When he took over, NBC was #1. It's now #4. But he's too busy pointing the fickle finger of blame at everything and everyone else to admit that he's hasn't got a clue how to do his job. This is a guy who hadn't even read a script before taking over the network. Who flipped through a bank of TV monitors while taking pitches. Whose self-serving programming chief spent the day skiing at Deer Valley while 500 hundred staffer were given the pink slip. After all the deservedly bad press they've been getting, you'd think the brain trust at GE would get wise. When a fish stinks, it stinks from the head.

[ErnestineBass]

Hallelujah and Amen to that!!!