Sometimes it kind of bugs me that I link to the free articles in the WSJ so much, but maybe it shows how valuable of a publication that newspaper is. In any case, here's the latest. Sarah Ellison and Dennis Berman have the lowdown on what is up with Tribune Co., and they inform that the company might not get sold to an outside bidder after all, and is looking to put the sand back in its own sandbox.

All in all, that isn't to say that nothing will be broken out, as the Journal reports that some portions, including broadcast, could be "spun off" to enable focused management of the print division. For Tribune's sake, that will hopefully include its long-term Internet and mobile interests, because we know how profitable print can be these days.

The WSJ's Aaron Patrick reports that ESPN parent Disney has purchased NASN Ltd., a cable channel that shows a lot of U.S.-based sporting content on television in Europe out of London. Whether or not this "partnership" will end up bringing more European content to America viewers will be a different story.

Yesterday, I was tipped off to the story about how Bill Nguyen of LaLa had apparently come in to save what is now WOXY.com. In case you're not familiar, that is what was left of the WOXY that previously broadcast on 97.7FM out of Cincinnati, Ohio.

That does appear to be the case, according to a story in today's Cincinnati Enquirer by Lauren Bishop.

On Friday, some key news came out about how Tribune Co. is going to handle its own business, but what's most important here isn't that the company is trying to be more productive, but the fact that the company is now up for sale, if you really read between the giant lines that have now been put in front of your face in 800-point type.

Anyone want to contemplate the thought of Tribune being purchased - or split up - in some way? Aside from the fact that the company is worth about $8 billion, according to that WSJ article by Sarah Ellison and Julia Angwin, its assets are across the board parts of our economy, from newspapers that are nationally known down to (or up to, depending on your perspective) the Chicago Cubs. Heck, it wouldn't surprise me to see some entrepreneurial group of Cubs fans who go out on a limb asking for a sale just so their preferred team can bring in some ownership that will create a winner, if that's even possible. I mean, baseball curses have to die sometime, right?

Facing financial issues, most likely, the San Diego Union-Tribune announced today that it would bring in, or as it is referred to, "consolidate" in the operations of Today's Local News, a free paper in north San Diego. That is to say, that The Copley Press Inc., the parent of both publications, saw a need to bring the two publications together for staffing and efficiency purposes.

With Tuesday's announcement that Time Warner was looking to off up to 18 magazine titles it currently owns, some less than a decade after buying them in the first place, followed by the New York Times Co. stating that it was interested in selling the nine television stations that it owns, what's a buyer to think?

It's not as if they're shedding companies and brands that don't purely meet core competencies, at least not totally. Sure, the NYTCo does a good amount of business in print, but it was always aspirational to own a television station or nine, wasn't it? As for Time Warner, they're obviously in the broadcast biz, and still in the print biz, but they're ditching out on certain areas.

In the NYTCo-related piece by Sarah Ellison and Brooks Barnes, the third graf is what's most important:

The move highlights an issue other media companies are grappling with: While newspapers and television used to complement each other because advertising slumps wouldn't always hit each sector simultaneously, the Internet is now hurting both, as consumers and ad dollars flee to the Web.

Complimentary was the way of a few years ago, but it looks like the Web is now swiping viewer/readership, not adding value to it. Is this a cost issue, where the Web is free for most things (then again, so is most television, except you, most of the time, have to watch the advertisements, sans DVRs), or is it the cost to produce? I've said a few times that if you started a New York Times-ish publication up today, with some decent capital, and only published online, you could do it for a lot less than you publish the print version for, which the change you spill out of your pocket to pay for a daily issue of is more of a token than actual payment towards what it took to print it - that's what advertising is for. But would it truly scale down enough? Sure, you'd still need a newsroom of sorts, but you don't need everything. In fact, you might be able to scale a lot of it out virtually.

What'd be awesome is to take a look at the backend of a situation like Engadget, which has a slew of writers, covering every new tech release, for the most part, of any note. Obviously having been a writer for a few years now on the Weblogs, Inc. network (now owned by AOL) I'm privy to some of the workflow, but having never written or been a part of Engadget I really can't say. Is part of Time Warner's overall thought process on how these various publications now don't fit into their scheme of things partly, maybe even one iota, because of the Weblogs, Inc. sites that they brought in a year ago?

Now don't get me wrong, this isn't meant to be blog triumphalism or anything, I'm just curious. It's not every day that someone says that Parenting and Popular Science need to scoot.

The AP's David Rising reported this morning that Bertelsmann AG will be selling BMG to Vivendi for more than $2 billion, making Vivendi by far the "largest music publisher by catalog size."

It's unclear if this does anything big that will be seen by the average consumer purchasing music, except for the potential for the "rich get richer" situation to continue on as now Universal Music Group will have even more control over music's overall catalog.

Over at BusinessWeekOnline, Steve Rosenbush is is covering the story that came out recently about TheKnot possibly being snagged by Target. While the core competencies of the companies don't necessarily look like they mesh at first, Target surely wants a bigger piece of the online retail pie, and taking a bite out of an area that a competitor might not have a slice of is an obvious choice to expand that kind of presence.

Rafat Ali has a few related links at PaidContent, as well.

Lexington, Kentucky's WKYT Channel 27 reports this week that the Winchester Sun has been sold to Schurz Communications, based out of Indiana.

The Los Angeles Times' Sallie Hofmeister reports on the number of complaints from the public this week to the FCC regarding Adelphia Communications' pending purchase by Time Warner and Comast.

The McKinney Courier-Gazette, along with other Hartman Newspapers, L.P. publications, have been acquired by American Community Newspapers.

The Leavenworth Times has the story about the acquisition of its parent, Liberty Group Publishing, by Fortress Investment Group.

Offline/online vicinity-pinging stalking tool Dodgeball has announced this afternoon that it has been purchased by Google, further proving that Google will indeed take over the world. [/sarcasm] For those not familiar with it, Dodgeball is a meatspace tool that allows folks to get pinged with text messages whenever friends are in your general vicinity, and your friends get a message whenever you're in their vicinity, all based on pre-done settings.

Founders Dennis Crowley and Alex Rainert, while surely doing well with some GOOG stock right now, appear to be staying on board to continue pushing Dodgeball's growth into new markets and applications. Find out more about the deal and the company's future here in the Q&A the company has posted.

On one hand, this means we probably won't need to have multiple mobile social softwares (MoSoSos for those of you scoring at home). On the other, it means that (do-doo-do-doo) technically, Google would know where you were all the time. And by "Google" I mean the massive brain that is the online resource, not any individual or group.

[update] Rex Hammock says that the founders were "acqhired." I'll take that on and declare this a successful acqhisition by Google.

On Friday, Idaho Falls-based KIFI announced that its parent, The Post Company, had sold the television station to Missouri's News-Press & Gazette company.

Should Cablevision be able to jump in on the bidding for Adelphia Communications, the financially troubled cableco? That seems to be an important question of the day, according to a Denver Business Journal story.

Cable television providers are already existing in semi-monopolies (or actual ones in their own little markets), and the expansion of the market reach of one by purchase of a distressed system may not be what the doctor ordered. As these network operators begin to provide more and more programming and have channel ownership in markets where other operators own a "slice" of, problems can and will occur. If they can't get along within one market, is there a reason that a cableco should be seen as the right suitor for another, other than having the funds and knowhow to run the company?

Perhaps you've heard the news that the St. Louis Post-Dispatch had been sold to Lee Enterprises, a national publisher who tends to stick to the Midwest. And yes, the rest of the P-D siblings are coming along as owner Pulitzer Inc. is included in the acquisition. For those of you not so big on media consolidation, it should be noted that Lee would become the fourth largest newspaper publisher, so says the New York Times' Jacques Steinberg.

Thankfully for the rest of us, some of the folks involved in the situation were having a little fun with the (not yet completed at the time of publication) purchase. Check out the P-D's Dan O'Neill, who writes about (among other things) the word that staffers were "banding together" to purchase the newspaper for themselves, in an effort to keep it "family run." O'Neill says that "if there are employees talking seriously about anteing up to buy a metropolitan newspaper, there is a union scale with which I am not familiar." Ain't that the truth.

The Associated Press reported a short time ago that the Justice Department is working on a "preliminary investigation" into the New York Times Company's acquisition of 49% of Metro Boston. The concern here is that the free daily would "compete" alongside NYTCo's Boston Globe newspaper with the rival Boston Herald.

Also noted is a Gannett purchase of a "community newspaper publisher in Michigan." That company appears to be HomeTown Communications, which the publisher announced it would be buying in November of 2004. Less than a week later, on November 24, the Cincinnati Post ran a story [discussed here] where "scrutiny from the U.S. Justice Department" was expected.

It should be pointed out - as it is in the AP item linked above - that the Boston Herald has been on the forefront of the antitrust push in that city. Globe ombudsman Christine Chinlund commented on the situation this morning, coincidentally, before the AP story broke.

Reuters' Martha Graybow reports that Catherine Mathis, NYT Vice President of Corporate Communications has stated that the "We have not been contacted by the Justice Department, nor to the best of our knowledge have any of our advertisers."

The Register's Tim Richardson has the details on the merger announcement between Liberty Media International Inc. and UnitedGlobalCom, Inc. UGC, which is more than half-owned by Liberty already, was set to be completely spun off by the company in March of 2004.

Looks like the international plans for Liberty have changed a bit.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Stan Donaldson writes Wednesday about the sale of six community newspapers from The Star Group to Star Publishing Group. (confusing, huh) The papers changing hands include the Burleson Star, a twice-weekly paper, and five other Texas publications that are distributed on a weekly basis.

Just saw over at Buzzmachine that the Washington Post was purchasing Slate from Microsoft. WaPo's Howard Kurtz writes about the paper's announcement, informing that "Post executives said they would keep Jacob Weisberg as editor and most of the 30-person staff."

Jarvis, who talked with Kurtz about the deal, said "it's a good thing for both; they fit well together, not unlike Dow Jones and Marketwatch."

As this "old" and "new" media world come together, it will be interesting to see how soon it is before Slate items appear in the print edition of the Post - if ever.

A few weeks ago, North Carolina's WRAL-TV reported that the Durham Herald-Sun was up for grabs. Friday afternoon, they confirm the story - and the buyer, Paxton Media Group.

The News & Observer has much more in this story by Janell Ross and David Ranii.

In Thursday's Portland Press Herald, Tux Turkel writes about comments made regarding media consolidation by Frank Blethen, whose family owns the Press Herald, along with a few other newspapers, most prominently the Seattle Times. Blethen told the Portland Community Chamber that "If we remain passive and watch while fewer and fewer owners control our news and information, our democracy will steadily erode."

Reports surfaced last week that Gannett was to purchase midwest newspaper publisher HomeTown Communications. On Wednesday, the Cincinnati Post's Greg Paeth informs that this potential merger "is expected to draw scrutiny from the U.S. Justice Department."

[ed: originally posted here]

The Associated Press reports Monday that the Scranton Times, which is distributed afternoons, and The Tribune will merge into one morning daily, the Times-Tribune. This will allow the papers' owner, Times-Shamrock Communications, to take advantage of efficiences in production and advertising.

Crain's Detroit Business has a report by Jennette Smith about Gannett's acquisition of HomeTown Communications Network, a deal that would include more than sixty nondaily newspapers in Michigan, Illinois, and Kentucky.

Earlier this week, the Star Tribune's Deborah Caulfield Rybak detailed the sale of St. Olaf College's WCAL radio station to Minnesota Public Radio. Friday, Rybak confirms that the sale is all done, and that the broadcast will "switch over" to the new owners on Sunday at 10pm.

The Star Tribune's Deborah Caulfield Rybak writes about the sale of WCAL-FM (89.3) from St. Olaf College to Minnesota Public Radio, which appears to be a go as of Monday, when the FCC ruled against a group, SaveWCAL, who opposes the station's transfer.

More information is available here in a FAQ that the station set up regarding the station's sale.

Andrew Ross Sirkin details the deal by Dow Jones & Company to purchase MarketWatch, creator of the CBS MarketWatch financial news site. Lost Remote has more, including the official announcement.

Is this Dow Jones' big step into "open" content that isn't a paid model, like WSJ.com?

The Kansas City Star's Aaron Barnhart writes about the "joint sales agreement" that has been executed between CBS affiliate KCTV and KSMO, a WB affiliate. In a move similar to joint operating agreements (JOAs) for newspapers, KCTV would "own" the ability to sell advertising on both stations and utilize common resources for daily operations - including office space, equipment, and more. However, this "arrangement" may have some difficulties, as formal ownership of two television stations in any one market is not legal - the JSO looks to get around that in a creative manner.

This story is probably a good one to follow, as it could offer direction on where the world of media consolidation is going in the television arena.

On Friday, Barrington Broadcasting Company announced the acquisition of KRCG-TV out of Missouri. The station, a CBS affiliate, was previously run by Mel Wheeler, Inc. and was the recipient of the 2003 Media Award by the Missouri Community Service Commission. KRCG has also been a CBS affiliate since its inception in 1955. (BW)

In a BusinessWire press release Tuesday, it was announced that WTVO out of Rockford, Illinois, was sold by Young Broadcasting Inc. to Scranton, Pennsylvania-based Mission Broadcasting, Inc. for just under $21 million. According to comments made by Mission's President, David Smith, it appears that the station will continue operating as is, although there is no word on whether it will stay as an affiliate of ABC.

The Post-Crescent has an article about Friday's announcement by Gannett detailing their acquisition of 34 print publications from Wisconsin-based Brown County Publishing Co. This brings Gannett's total ownership of publications in Wisconsin from 10 up to 44.

Bloomberg has a story this morning with comments from News Corporation boss Rupert Murdoch, who feels that the bid of $5 billion that Sony has made for MGM is actually too high. So...I suppose the ~$5 billion Time Warner is putting up is too much as well? Fair market value is in the eye of the beholder - or in this case, the company with the open wallet, one would believe.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer's Julie Washington reports today that Salem Communications has finalized a deal to re-acquire WRMR 1420. WRMR has been Cleveland's only station in the "big band" format, which Salem actually sold to another station in that city back in 2001.

On Monday, just six days from today, Salem plans to change the station's format, possibly to something more in line with their company's themes: Christian Teaching/Talk; News/Talk; or Contemporary Christian Music.

[update] The Plain Dealer's Clint O'Connor updates us on yesterday's story about the sale of WRMR 1420. According to this latest article, WRMR will now be known as WHK (which is moving from 1220 on the dial) and will be filled with a news/talk format.

According to the New York Times' Andrew Ross Sirkin, Sony hasn't walked away with MGM just yet. Reportedly, Time Warner is bidding about $5 billion for the studio and the huge film library they maintain.

[previously discussed here]

The Defamer has a source who reports that the much-ballyhooed MGM/Sony merger [previously discussed here & here] has been finalized. Details are expected sometime next week.

Just over a month ago, folks were talking about Sony and two other firms purchasing Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for some serious coin. According to AP's Gary Gentile, Sony still wants in, and is asking for two more weeks of "exclusive negotiating" to get a deal done. The number being floated is still about $5 billion, including $3 billion cash.

Newsday's Harry Berkowitz reports this afternoon that Cablevision wouldn't say no - to a good offer - if someone (read: Time Warner) wanted to purchase the cable company.

Obviously the Dolan family want the bucks, but I think more importanly, the Knick and Ranger fans should want new ownership - and push for this deal. Too bad they're both out of the post-season, or we could have some great signs in the stands - "Sell Our Team" or "Time Warner: First Columbus Circle, Now on Broadway!" And Ranger fans could fill in their favorite chants with "Dolan sucks!", giving Denis Potvin some time off.

Plus, this makes one less cable operator for TW to have to negotiate with to get their programming shown on.

If you've ever been to the racetrack - heck, if you've ever been to the corner deli, you've probably seen some folks with their Daily Racing Form. For over one hundred years, the Form has been a helpful tool to horse racing fans to sink their eyeballs into to get their fix on who's going to be the big winner that day. Now, the Form has a new owner, the New York Post's Paul Tharp reports this morning.

The buyer, Carter Bales, is probably looking to double his money on this deal - so I'm curious to see what changes might come about with this move.

Hispanic Business (dot com) picks up a PRN announcement that the Washington Post has purchased El Tiempo Latino, a weekly spanish-language newspaper that serves the Washington-area market.

For several years The Washington Post has had an informal content-sharing relationship with El Tiempo Latino that has included the publication of relevant Post articles in translation in El Tiempo Latino.

Well this certainly makes this much easier, doesn't it? It also makes both publications appeal to a broader group of advertisers.

After yesterday's announcement that Comcast was bidding $66 billion for media giant Disney, lots of emails started flying, office chatter was up and running, and people most likely started trying to cash in on the executive job deadpools they were part of, as it looks like chief mouse Michael Eisner might not make it through this deal, merger or no merger. But more important than any change in Eisner's job status is what this would mean for all of us who are in the U.S. and have a television. Or shop at the Disney Store. Or go to Disneyworld/land.

The best comment I've heard so far from a good friend of mine was "Does this mean that ABC would, in effect, be a cable network?" I suppose it would. Sort of. So, Comcast could have its hands in, effectively, every market in the nation with an ABC affiliate - without having cable Internet, television or other services in there. Wow. I can't even begin to fathom the opportunities and changes we would see. Obviously Michael Powell and the FCC would be all over this faster than you can say "MyDoom.A", but if it were to happen, it would create some interesting times for everyone.

I had planned on taking a few days to collect my thoughts on this issue, but after reading Floyd Norris' piece in this morning's New York Times, entitled "Disney Deal Suggests Content Is No Longer King", I figured I had to say something. I think I disagree with some of the assumptions that Norris makes in his article - I don't think that content isn't king - I'm a big purveyor of the opposite. I do agree that "Wall Street values [Disney] a lot less" than it does Comcast, I think a lot of that is the same as what the average person with an interest in Disney thinks - that they've diversified so far and wide, and have made some various bad decisions over the past 10-15 years, and these decisions and moves have hurt not only the balance sheet of the company, but the sterling reputation that the company has as a whole. Many people believe that Eisner is arrogant and this was rehashed again when he reportedly refused to meet with Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, leading to Roberts sending him a letter which stated that "it was 'unfortunate' that Eisner wasn't willing to consider a merger." and that "Given this, the only way for us to proceed is to make a public proposal directly to you and your board," which led to the public announcement on Tuesday. I guess one might speculate that this isn't quite as "hostile" a bid as it looks like.

Back on the content trail, I think this shows that Comcast IS looking for content to fill its needs - as it is obviously the distribution channel, and as Disney owns ABC and ESPN properties, which are on the Comcast systems, it fits right in. Roberts truly seems like he wants to "right the ship" at the company, and bringing along former ABC boss Stephen Burke to take on "restoring Disney animation to its rightful place" could be the fix that the shareholders and board is looking for. So content might still king, but being able to successfully distribute it could be the ace in the hole.