Here & there
Zell of a fall: Tribune files for Chapter 11
By Louisa Ada Seltzer
Dec 9, 2008 - 12:30:47 AM

Zell of a fall: Tribune goes into Chapter 11 bankruptcy
Just a year ago, real estate kingpin Sam Zell pulled off what looked like the media deal of the decade, snapping up Tribune Co. by jiggering a lot of debt and relying on a risk-heavy plan to sell off enough assets, like the Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field, to keep the whole deal afloat. Zell miscalculated, and yesterday he took his diverse media empire into bankruptcy. By filing Chapter 11, Zell hopes to ease the terms of payments due on the financing he put together to acquire Tribune, some $900 million in payments in 2009 alone. His list of creditors includes Merrill Lynch, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, which of course have their own problems, and it was meetings with their representatives that led Zell to file for Chapter 11 protection. Zell says he has the resources to meet payroll and other expenses as he renegotiates payment terms, though payouts to former employees have been stopped, according to the company's web site. Zell is characterizing the collapse of Tribune Co. as a perfect storm of all the wrong forces, and leading is the faltering ad economy, which has proved crippling to the dozen newspapers Tribune owns, along with two-dozen local TV stations. Zell has been slow to close the sale of the Cubs, which has also hurt. But critics from the beginning thought the Tribune acquisition was too highly leveraged--Zell put just $315 million into the $8.2 billion deal--and that Zell, while a shrewd real estate man, had no idea how to run a newspaper, let alone a fleet of them. The question now is: What next? Can Zell make Tribune work under the protection of the courts? Or will it all just splatter across the media landscape, as many people worry?

Bunny hop: CEO Christie Hefner exits from Playboy
Christie Hefner is out as chief executive officer at Playboy Enterprises, but did she walk or was she pushed? That question is buzzing around media circles a day after Hugh Hefner’s daughter announced she was leaving her post after 20 years. The younger Hefner insisted that her decision was voluntary, but it evidently came as a surprise to those within the company and prompted speculation that her father or, more likely, disgruntled shareholders had actually played a part in her exit. Ad revenue at Playboy has slipped 15.5 percent through third quarter, according to the Publishers Information Bureau, and ad pages are off 6.5 percent, though that’s a bit lower than the industry average. Jerome H. Kern will succeed Hefner as interim CEO while the company undertakes a formal search for a new top executive.

ABC and CBS split daytime leadership during sweeps
With three of the top five programs in daytime, including the surging daytime chat show “The View,” ABC won the daytime November sweeps in the key women 18-49 demographic, its fifth consecutive victory. “View” was up 11 percent in the demo compared with last year, averaging 1.02 million viewers and placing No. 2 overall to CBS’s “The Young and the Restless,” with an average 1.08 million in the demo. ABC’s “General Hospital” and “One Life to Live” were third and fourth during sweeps, followed by NBC’s “Days of Our Lives.” For the month, ABC daytime averaged a 1.4 women 18-49 rating, with NBC second at 1.2 and CBS third at 1.1. Among total viewers, CBS maintained its dominance with an average 3.49 million, well ahead of second-place ABC’s 3.14 million. NBC trailed in third place with 2.69 million.

Programming notes: TBS fires up the 'Frat House'
Some guys wish they never left their college fraternity houses, and now they have a chance to go back. TBS has ordered a half-hour pilot of “Frat House,” an unscripted late-night series hosted by comedians Bret Ernst, Theo Von and Bert Kreischer. On the show, created by “Real World” production company Bunin-Murray, the hosts will lead a group of guys age 26 and older as they return to their hard-partying college days. Think “Old School” without Vince Vaughn or Will Ferrell. Meanwhile, in other programming, Bravo has renewed four of its unscripted series. “The Rachel Zoe Project” and “Tabatha’s Salon Takeover” will both return for second seasons, while “Flipping Out” and “Million Dollar Listing” will return for third seasons.

Fox's 'Simpsons' paces nominees for WGA awards
The Writers Guild of America took time out from sniping at producers over allegedly unpaid residuals to announce nominations for its annual broadcast awards yesterday. Veteran Fox animated comedy “The Simpsons” led all programs with five nominations, including four in the best animation category. It’s also up for best comedy series, facing NBC’s “30 Rock” and “The Office,” HBO’s “Entourage” and Showtime’s “Weeds.” “Rock” received four nominations, second-best overall, after winning best comedy last year. AMC’s “Breaking Bad” led all drama nominees with three nods, including best new series. It will face Fox’s “Fringe,” HBO’s “In Treatment,” ABC’s “Life on Mars” and HBO’s “True Blood” in that category. In the best drama category, HBO’s “The Wire,” AMC’s “Mad Men,” Showtime’s “Dexter,” NBC’s “Friday Night Lights” and ABC’s “Lost” received nominations. The awards show takes place Feb. 7. 

Google and MySpace team up to counter Facebook
Fast-growing Facebook has inspired a partnership between MySpace and Google, with the aim of getting more third-party sites to embrace the latter over the former. In a deal entered yesterday, MySpace and Google will work together to make their login systems compatible with other sites, meaning that someone at, say, a music site can log into MySpace without ever leaving the original site. Google and MySpace have both been working on systems to allow such all-encompassing surfing with the programs Friend Connect and MySpaceID. The idea is that if it’s easier to log onto MySpace, surfers won’t meander over to Facebook. Google and MySpace companies have teamed up for social networking programs before with last year’s OpenSocial, which provides a variety of software programs. Meanwhile, Facebook recently rolled out its own version of the universal login with Facebook Connect.

Seventeen launches magazine in MTV virtual world
The number of real-life teen magazines has plummeted in recent years, but will girls’ avatars indulge in such reads? Hearst magazines is hoping so, which is why the magazine giant has partnered with MTV Networks to make the December/January issue of Seventeen magazine available in the web-based Virtual MTV. Readers were been invited by MTV and on Seventeen.com to a private beta version of the new MTV online world. There they can find a virtual issue of the magazine that has exclusive content, including a virtual Seventeen poster and a Ralph Lauren bag. Also available are video clips and behind-the-scenes photos from some Seventeen events. While checking out the magazine, visitors can also explore Virtual MTV, which allows them to create an avatar and decorate a virtual home. A virtual launch party was held yesterday featuring an appearance by “The Hills” star Whitney Port.

Pulitzer board recognizing online-only newspapers
The most prestigious U.S. journalism award is finally giving a nod to the internet. The Pulitzer Prize Board said yesterday in a statement that it will “allow entries made up entirely of online content to be submitted in all 14 Pulitzer journalism categories." In the past, online-only publications could only submit entries in the breaking news and breaking-news photography categories. The 2009 prize categories have been expanded to online text-based newspapers and news organizations and will include local reporting of breaking news, commentary, feature writing, investigative reporting, explanatory reporting and reporting on national or international affairs. Online or print entries are due Feb. 1 from U.S. news organizations or newspapers that publish at least once a week and are dedicated primarily to original news reporting.

Report advocates appointment of cybersecurity czar
There’s already a drug czar and discussion of appointing a car czar, but does America need a cyber czar? It does according to a panel of government and industry experts. A report by the Commission on Cybersecurity for the 44th Presidency advocating such a move was delivered to Capitol Hill yesterday. The commission wants President-elect Barack Obama to create the new office to protect cyberspace from hackers and to coordinate online security efforts for the U.S. intelligence and civilian agencies as well as the military. It also says that Obama and Congress should create new laws covering online search warrants that would enable authorities to speed up their investigations. The Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think-tank that organized the commission, says the current rules for online law enforcement were designed in the 1980s and are either unclear or too slow for today’s internet crimes.