by Samantha Sloan

 

Tribune Broadcasting
435 N. Michigan Ave Suite 1800
Chicago, IL 60611

Phone: 312-222-3333
Fax: 312-321-0446

Website: http://www.Tribune.com

Tribune Broadcasting is a pioneer in both radio and television broadcasting, and is a faction of the major media conglomerate, Tribune Company. Tribune Broadcasting owns and operates 26 major market television stations, which cumulatively reach more than 80% of United States Households. The group is anchored by super-station WGN America, which can be seen in more that 66 million households via satellite and cable services nationwide. 19 Tribune stations are affiliated with the growing Warner Brothers Television Network, and Tribune holds a 22% equity investment in this network. [6] [11]

 

 

Tribune Broadcasting is one of America’s largest and most respected broadcasters, and has a long history of innovation and development. Starting in 1924 with WGN Radio, Tribune Broadcasting has set a national precedent for American broadcasting. Tribune is responsible for radio’s first live broadcast, television’s first live sporting event, and the invention of instant replay and live aerial news coverage. Also, Tribune Broadcasting has recently switched from analog technology to the latest digital technology to help viewers gain access to the highest quality television possible. [10]

 

Tribune Broadcasting owns and operates many television stations across the country; however, Tribune also develops and distributes many first run syndicated television programs for the Tribune Station group. It also produces content for national syndication, including the Chicago Cubs Baseball Team and Chicago’s WGN-AM.

 

 

 

The majority of Tribune Stations are affiliated with the media conglomerates, FOX,and the CW Network, however, they also have ties to ABC,and MyNetworkTV due to license agreements in some cities. Tribune holds equity interest in many networks and websites, including the Food Network, Careerbuilder.com, Classified Ventures, ForSaleByOwner.com, Homefinder.com, and Topix, to name a few. [16] [5]

 

The top executives for Tribune Broadcasting are CEO, Nils Larsen, Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of Administration, Gina Mazzaferri, Chief Executive Officer of the Tribune Company, Eddy W. Hartenstein, President of Programming Division, Sean Compton, and President for WPIX- TV, Betty Ellen Berlamino.  Real Estate billionaire, Sam Zell is also influential, and took ownership of the debt-heavy Tribune Company in the midst of bankruptcy. Zell took the company private, and is now working with Larsen to reestablish Tribune Broadcasting as an industry leader. [12]

 

 

On December 8, 2008, the Tribune Company filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, which was followed by a voluntary petition for reorganization in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, which is in joint administration with the entire Tribune Media Conglomerate. Upon declaring bankruptcy, the company’s senior debt holders, Oaktree Capital Management, JP Morgan Chase, Anglo, Gordon and Company assumed control of Tribune’s properties. Since then, the company has been transferring ownership of the Tribune Broadcasting Television and Radio Station licenses to the investment groups that now operate the company. For this reason, the company is no longer making any earnings public, and has not released any earnings information since 2008. The company is still operating its media business during while restructuring, which includes production of all content that was produced before the company filed for bankruptcy. [14] [15]

 

 

Nils Larsen became CEO April 2011, after the previous CEO, Jerry Kersting resigned due to his inability to effectively lead the company out of Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. Larsen has been an incredibly effective CEO, and has worked extensively to re-establish the company as a national broadcast leader. According to Tribune owner, Sam Zell, “Nils is the right person to lead out broadcast operations…he’s thoughtful, creative, and has the vision necessary to maximize the effectiveness of the group.”[1]

 

In the past year and a half, Nils has shifted the company from one stuck in old ways to one that is innovative, creative, and focused extensively on demonstrating company worth to advertisers. In a recent press conference, Eddy Hartenstein, head of Tribune Co’s Print section and editor of the LA Times stated that, “under Larsen’s leadership, cash flows have been up significantly than they were a year earlier”. Tribune Broadcasting keeps its financial information private, however this statement was incredibly promising, and a good sign for investors as the company plans to leave Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in the next few months.
Nils Larsen has also taken the lead in the reinvention of Tribune Broadcasting and its role in local television. As stated by Lee Abrams, Tribune’s Chief Innovation Officer, “we have to be radically and noticeably different-we have to imagine TV and TV news in a totally new way, one that breaks through and reinvents decades of the old, tired, TV playbook”. These changes involve everything from station identifications, logos, graphics, promos, and to anything else that would distinguish a Tribune station from any other station in the market. [14]

 

On June 29^th, 2012, Nils hired new creative directors John Zeigler and Carrie King, to implement dramatically new creative standards and promotional emphasis for the websites and television stations within their respective regions. In order to appeal to a younger demographic, the creative duo threw out Tribune’s previous website design, and replaced it with a website that is more appealing to these younger viewers.[2]

 

 

 

Tribune has also distinguished itself from other broadcasters on August 8^th, 2012 upon the release of the Augmented Reality Application. This application was designed to help Tribune bridge the gap between what Chief Innovation Officer Lee Abrams referred to as the, “1970’s Television Playbook” to content that spawns a symbiotic relationship between the broadcaster and the viewer. Chicago’s WGN-TV was the first to launch this application, which they named WGNTV-AR. The company used Aurasma technology, which allows printed material to virtually come to life in either the 3D or video form. The company launched this application using the Chicago Tribune and Red Eye online newspapers. Simply, this mobile application allows readers to scan over content that interests them, and then they are linked to the video content on WGN-TV. The application was released widely, and is available on both Google Play and iTunes.  The Tribune Company is confident that this new technology will be beneficial to both their newspapers and television stations, and will help viewers become more involved in the content. [3] [9]

 

Video: The Impact of Technology Dependency on Media Delivery

 

Tribune Broadcasting has had many carriage controversies in 2012 beginning on April 1^st, when Tribune’s carriage agreement with DirecTV ended. On April 1^st, all 23 broadcast stations owned by Tribune Broadcasting were pulled from the satellite provider at midnight. Tribune had been seeking retransmission consent payments from DirecTV, which the company had received for the carriage of WGN America under its previous carriage agreements. On April 3^rd, DirecTV filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission claiming that Tribune representatives had acted in bad faith. This complaint spawned from the claim that the company had transferred control over its broadcast licenses to bankruptcy creditors in an inappropriate fashion. The dispute continued until April 5^th, 2012, when Tribune Broadcasting and DirecTV reached an agreement for the Tribune Broadcasting Stations and WGN America. At 9:00pm that day, the complaint to the Federal Communications Commission was dropped and the Tribune stations were restored to DirecTV subscribers. [4]

 

Similarly, on April 16^th, 2012, Tribune Broadcasting’s carriage agreement with Cablevision was terminated which prompted the removal of WPIX, WCCT and WPHL being pulled from Cablevision systems in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut. Similarly, KWGN was pulled from Optimum West Systems in Colorado and Wyoming. On August 16^th, 2012, Tribune Broadcasting clarified this removal of stations and subsequent confusion by stating that, “Cablevision has never compensated Tribune for the retransmission of its local stations, which are among the most highly watched channels on Cablevision’s line-ups.  What we have proposed amounts to less than a penny a day per subscriber, well below what Cablevision pays to providers of less well-watched channels.” [8]

 

 

On November 16^th, 2012, the Federal Communications Commission announced that it has approved Tribune Broadcasting’s request for the assignment of broadcast licenses and waivers in cross-ownership markets. Simply, the FCC granted the Tribune Company cross-ownership in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, South Florida and Hartford. Tribune owns 23 television stations and 8 newspapers in these markets. The company is extremely excited about the decision, since it will allow the company to continue moving out of Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in the next several weeks. [13] [14]
On November 19^th, SVP of programming and entertainment, Sean Compton, moved up to president of programming at Tribune, overseeing WGN/ Chicago as well as Tribune’s 23 National TV Stations and the national WGN America cable station. Larsen was quoted in Radio Ink, stating that, “(Sean Compton) has been turning around the attitude at our station group and at WGN America by securing outstanding syndicated programming- and better programming means better ratings. He’s making a huge difference in our recent success”

 

 

Sources:

[1]Sam Zell names Niels Larsen CEO http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-06-01/business/ct-biz-0601-phil-20110601_1_randy-michaels-ceo-and-publisher-executive-shuffle

[2]Tribune Broadcasting Reinvents Creative Services http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tribune-broadcasting-reinvents-creative-services-97411229.html

[3]Printed Reality Comes to Life as WGN-TV Launches Augmented Reality App http://www.wgntv.com/about/station/pressrelease/wgntv-printed-comes-to-life-as-augmented-reality-app-20120808,0,5805252.story

[4]Tribune Broadcasting Says No To DirectTV Deal http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/companies/story/2012-04-01/tribune-directv-deal/53919334/1

[5]Tribune Broadcasting http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribune_Broadcasting

[6]Tribune Company Website http://www.tribune.com/

[7] Newspaper Paywalls http://www.thewrap.com/media/article/newspaper-paywalls-too-little-too-late-fallen-giant-industry-35885

[8] Tribune Company Statement on Negotiations with CableVision http://corporate.tribune.com/pressroom/?p=4462

[9] Printed Material Comes to Life with New Augmented Reality App http://corporate.tribune.com/pressroom/?p=4452

[10] Analog. Digital. What’s the Difference? http://telecom.hellodirect.com/docs/Tutorials/AnalogVsDigital.1.051501.asp

[11]Company Overview of Tribune Broadcasting Co. http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=1579369

[12] About Tribune Administration/ Executives http://corporate.tribune.com/pressroom/?page_id=2

[13] Tribune Co. Bankruptcy http://www.deadline.com/tag/tribune-co-bankruptcy/

[14] Tribune Win’s FCC Approval http://corporate.tribune.com/pressroom/?p=4835

[15] Restructuring Information Website http://dm.epiq11.com/TRB/Project

[16] Tribune Company History http://corporate.tribune.com/pressroom/?page_id=2313