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Tribune Media Company may sell off more of its media assets as it looks to improve its financials, company executives said Monday during Tribune’s fourth-quarter earnings call with analysts and investors.
Tribune also may add new strategic partnerships or programming alliances as it looks to boost its value. The Chicago-based company took a $385 million write-down for the quarter, and that included $74 million in investments in acquired programming for cable network WGN America, such as Warner Bros.’ Person of Interest and CBS’ Elementary. That also included spending on originals, such as the recently canceled Manhattan and the recently premiered Outsiders, which CEO Peter Liguori called “a hit by any measure.”
Among Tribune Media’s key assets are 42 TV stations, which includes 20 stations it acquired three years ago with its purchase of the Local TV station group. Tribune spun off its newspaper business into a separate publicly traded company, Tribune Publishing, in 2014.
The TV station merger and acquisition marketplace is still hot, and at least one buyer, Meredith, has publicly stated its interest in buying more stations. Meredith was left at the altar last month when Media General chose to instead merge with Nexstar, and CEO Stephen Lacy has said that the company has a war chest and is ready to spend.
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WGN America is another asset that could possibly be sold. One of the problems for the network is that it has yet to build a programming portfolio that viewers considered important enough that Tribune can require cable operators to carry it on their so-called “skinny” bundles.
Meanwhile, the company renewed employment agreements with several of its top executives, including CEO Peter Liguori, who signed on for two more years. Two execs also were promoted, with Chandler Bigelow named executive VP and chief financial officer and General Counsel Eddie Lazarus expanding his duties to chief strategy officer.
For the full year, Tribune’s revenue was up slightly to $2.01 billion.
Brief Take: Tribune’s recently been relatively stable, but the company has never been the same after going through a bankruptcy reorganization in 2008 from which it emerged in late 2012.
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