by Shelby Cook

Tribune Broadcasting is a leading broadcast television business based in Chicago that operates over 20 television stations across the United States, which includes WGN America, a national broadcast on cable television and local television stations in 15 states.

Tribune Broadcasting is owned by the Tribune Company, which was founded by Joseph Medill in 1861. The company owned the daily newspaper The Chicago Tribune, and in 1924 they launched their first radio station called WGN, after the Tribune’s slogan, “World’s Greatest Newspaper.” In 1948, WGN-TV in Chicago became the Tribune Company’s first television station. Tribune Broadcasting was introduced by the company in 1981 (1).

Tribune Broadcasting has remained successful through innovation, with the invention of instant replay and aerial news broadcasts. In 2000, Tribune truly cemented its position as a major media conglomerate through the purchase of Times Mirror Company (2).

Eddy Hartenstein is president and CEO of Tribune Company. Samuel Zell is the current chairman of the board of directors for the Tribune Company, alongside Jeffrey S. Berg who is the CEO of International Creative Management, Inc., Brian L. Greenspun, Betsy D. Holden, Willian A. Osborn, William Pate, Mark Shapiro, Maggie Wilderotter and Frank Wood (3).

Tribune’s total operating revenue is about $5 billion, and it is a private company. For 25 years the company was public, on the stock exchange, however in 2007 Tribune again became private. In 2008 the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

On February 10^th, 2012 Tribune Broadcasting and The CW announced the distribution of “The Bill Cunningham Show,” which is set to air on the CW at 3 p.m. for the Fall 2012 season. “The Bill Cunningham Show,” is a first-run syndicated series, formatted similarly to a “Jerry Springer,” with a conservative slant that met surprising success last year. The show will replace “Dr. Drew’s Lifechangers.”

In the same month, February 27^th, 2012 Tribune also announced Brian Carr as their new VP of Strategic Sales and Planning for WGN America. Carr started his position on March 12^th of the same year. Carr came from Viacom where he worked for MTV Network Entertainment Group as the Senior VP of Pricing and Inventory (4).

In late March, negotiations between Tribune Broadcasting and DirecTV due to the impending expiration of their deal on March 31st, 2012 were coming to a tumultuous close. Tribune threatened to pull programming from DirecTV subscribers over retransmission fees.

DirecTV had previously paid for the retransmission of “WGN America”, however Tribune claimed that Direct had never provided retransmission fees for the rebroadcast of their other shows, and were now demanding them in their new contract. By pulling programming, DirecTV subscribers could lose popular shows such as Glee, American Idol, Vampire Diaries, and America’s Next Top Model (5).

On March 31st, Tribune released a statement saying simply: “Tribune Broadcasting has not reached an agreement or come to terms with DirecTV on any aspect of its contract, which expires at midnight tonight.  Any statement by DirecTV to the contrary is inaccurate and misleading,” (6).

DirecTV asserted that they had a “handshake” deal with Tribune, and was baffled by their decision to pull their shows. DirecTV released a statement in response to Tribune’s, decrying their actions as deceptive and a desperate ploy “to provide an improved return for certain banks and hedge funds,” (7).

A few days later, on April 2nd, 2012, DirecTV filed a complaint with the FCC about the validity of Tribune’s explanation behind reneging on their agreement. According to DirecTV, they had come to an agreement with Tribune two days before March 31st when their contract expired, and the next day Tribune announced they could not honor the agreement because their creditors voted against it.

DirecTV’s complaint argued that Tribune’s creditors did not have the right to give the final call on a carriage decision, considering that the FCC had not yet approved the 30 percent of voting interest that the Tribune Company had proposed to them. Some of Tribune’s creditors include J.P. Morgan Chase Bank and Oaktree Partners. (8).

Two days later Tribune and DirecTV had come to an agreement. Tribune’s 23 affiliates in 19 cities as well as WGN America were reinstated as of April 4th, and a new 5-year deal was put in place. DirecTV agreed to provided retransmission fees for all of Tribune’s programming (9).

On April 16th, 2012, Tribune announced that WGN-TV’s telecast of the Chicago Bulls vs. the Detroit Pistons the previous night had reached it’s highest rating in 10 years. It had a 10.7 rating, disclosing that each point equals 34, 935 TV households. Therefore roughly 347,000 households were watching that game (10).

On April 17th, Tribune posted a press release announcing the launch of new social TV features through their website, Zap2it. These features allow users to interact with others who share their TV show and celebrity interests, while generating points and badges, users can also gain access to giveaways and prizes (11).

(1). Tribune Company History. http://corporate.tribune.com/pressroom/?page_id=2313. Retrieved March 17, 2012.

(2). “Tribune, Times Mirror Deal.” CNN Money. http://money.cnn.com/2000/03/13/deals/tribune/. Retrieved April 30, 2012.

(3). About Tribune Company. http://corporate.tribune.com/pressroom/?page_id=2. Retrieved March 17, 2012.

(4). “WGN America Names Brian Carr Vice President of Strategic Sales and Planning.”http://corporate.tribune.com/pressroom/?p=3920. Retrieved March 18, 2012.

(5). Bond, Paul. “DirecTV in Retransmission Dispute with Tribune.” The Hollywood Reporter. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/directv-tribune-american-idol-glee-modern-family-304282. Retrieved April 28, 2012.

(6). “Tribune Statement on DirecTV Negotiations.” http://corporate.tribune.com/pressroom/?p=4065. Retrieved April 28, 2012.

(7). Couch, Aaron. “Tribune Broadcasting Pulls Content From DirecTV. The Hollywood Reporter. “http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/tribune-broadcasting-directv-wgn-306579. Retrieved April 28, 2012.

(8). Launder, William and FitzGerald, Drew. “2nd Update: DirecTV Files FCC Complaint against Tribune Co.” The Wall Street Journal Online. http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20120402-716482.html. Retrieved April 30, 2012.

(9). O’Connell, Michael. “DirecTV and Tribune Broadcasting Settle Carriage Dispute.” The Hollywood Reporter. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/directv-tribune-broadcasting-settle-carriage-308336. Retrieved April 28, 2012.

(10). “WGN-TV Bulls Ratings Highest In Over Decade.” http://corporate.tribune.com/pressroom/?p=4123. Retrieved April 28, 2012.

(11). “Zap2it Introduces New Social TV Features.” http://corporate.tribune.com/pressroom/?p=4130. Retrieved April 28, 2012.