Tribune Co planned to spin off its newspapers from the company's TV business. The spin off was similiar to the move taken by News Corp and Time Warner Inc. This signaled the end of an era where news broadcasting and publishing went hand in hand.
In the last four decades, numerous media companies had spent snapping up their TV and film assets. These companies have bet in part that the two industries would help promote each other and bring significant efficiency. However, a seven year decline in print advertising was experienced. This would mean a lack of synergy and looming costs from newspaper pensions. This led to the newspaper-TV collaboration to an industry-wide divorce.
In the past year, investors increased pressure to spin off publishing assets from quick growing video units. News Corp decided to split its two entities last month. The move made turned the biggest US newspaper publisher into a separately traded stock. Time Warner also planned to spin off its Time Inc magazine empire later this year. This would have it focused on its growing cable units which included HBO, TNT and TBS.
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