Watch CBS News

OC Register, Riverside Press-Enterprise To Be Sold To Digital First Media

SANTA ANA (CBSLA.com) — A lawyer for Freedom Communications Inc. said Saturday that the company has decided to sell the Orange County Register and the Riverside-based Press-Enterprise to Digital First Media after a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking a planned sale to Tribune Publishing, owner of the Los Angeles Times, over antitrust concerns.

"It's been very topsy-turvy, but my guess is that it's over, because Tribune, I don't believe, will be able to get the temporary restraining order removed in a timely manner," attorney William Lobel told the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin today. "So we have determined, as the sellers, to take the bid of Digital First Media, and we will appear in court Monday to confirm the sale."

The Daily Bulletin is one of nine Southern California newspapers owned by Digital First Media. Others include the Los Angeles Daily News, the Long Beach Press-Telegram, the Torrance Daily Breeze and the Pasadena Star-News.

Lobel later confirmed the decision in an email to City News Service.

Tribune Publishing Co. was the top bidder at a public bankruptcy auction last week to acquire substantially all of the assets of Freedom Communications Inc. Under the terms of the bid, Chicago-based Tribune Publishing agreed to pay $56 million in cash for Freedom Communications and its real estate in Santa Ana and Riverside, according to the company.

However, the U.S. Department of Justice quickly filed a civil antitrust lawsuit seeking to block the acquisition. U.S. District Court Judge Andre Birotte Jr. on Friday issued a temporary restraining order and scheduled a hearing for March 28 to decide whether to block the sale beyond that date on concerns that the sale would harm consumers and advertisers.

The Times reported that Digital First Media's bid is $52.3 million.

According to the government's complaint, filed in Los Angeles federal court, The Times and the Register together account for 98 percent of newspaper sales in Orange County and the Los Angeles Times and Freedom's newspapers together account for 81 percent of English-language newspaper sales in Riverside County. The Tribune Company also owns the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Tribune's acquisition of its most significant competitor would give it a monopoly over newspaper sales in each county and allow it to increase subscription prices, raise advertising rates and invest less to maintain the quality of its newspapers.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.