Tribune's Newsday deal is one step in easing debt

Now the Chicago company needs to move on its next big asset sales, including the Chicago Cubs baseball team and Wrigley Field, in order to meet its obligations to creditors looming in 2009.

The deal announced Monday puts one of Tribune's largest newspapers in the hands of cable operator Cablevision Systems Corp., which like Newsday is based on New York's Long Island.

Investors have been skeptical about the benefits to Cablevision from the deal, given that it hasn't operated a newspaper before and the newspaper industry is struggling as readers and advertisers move to the Internet.

"It's incredibly hard to fathom why they want to expand into the newspaper business," said Richard Greenfield, a media analyst with Pali Capital. "Why are they putting dollars towards newspapers rather than buying their own stock?"

For Tribune, there's no doubt why the deal make sense: The company needs cash. Last December, Tribune bought out its public shareholders in an $8.2 billion deal orchestrated by real estate mogul Sam Zell, and now it's struggling to service that debt.

Zell had originally hoped to keep Tribune's newspaper and broadcasting businesses intact, but it had to change course and consider options for Newsday following a rapid deterioration in the newspaper business this year.

Tribune last week reported an 11 percent decline in first-quarter newspaper revenues, which have been hit hard by the slumping economy and online competition.

Tribune now seems to be covered on a $650 million lump-sum debt payment coming due in December as well as other near-term obligations, but analysts say it needs to get moving on other asset sales in order to be in shape to deliver on another $750 million debt payment due in June 2009.

"This is certainly the first step in alleviating near-term liquidity concerns," said Mike Simonton of Fitch Ratings, a bond ratings agency, but he added that it "does not get them out of the woods necessarily."