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AS THE PROJO TURNS
Plot thickens on Belo's TV quest
BY IAN DONNIS

If things fall just the right way for the Belo Corporation, the Dallas-based owner of the Providence Journal might not have to look far to acquire a television station in Rhode Island.

Providence Equity Partners, a buyout firm located in Kennedy Plaza — a scant distance from the ProJo’s Fountain Street headquarters — has emerged in news reports as one of the bidders for Freedom Communications, the California-based media company with a host of holdings, including WLNE-TV (Channel 6), the ABC affiliate in Providence. Belo spokesman Scott Baradell and Providence Equity president Jonathan M. Nelson didn’t return calls seeking comment. But as the Phoenix previously reported (see "Belo’s bonanza," News, May 30), it’s only natural to think that Belo would like to strengthen the ProJo’s traditional statewide market dominance by acquiring a television station. As Tim Schick, administrator of the Providence Newspaper Guild, puts it, "I think they would go wherever they could cut a deal and would be less concerned about who they’re buying from or dealing with."

First, however, there’s the matter of how the US Senate turned back, at least temporarily, the sweeping deregulation backed in June by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The Senate (including Senators Jack Reed and Lincoln Chafee) voted on September 16, on a 55-40 margin, in favor of a resolution that, among other things, would prevent a single company from owning a newspaper and television station in most American cities. Although the Republican House leadership has pledged to block a vote on the anti-deregulation measure, opponents of media consolidation, such as the online activist group MoveOn (www.moveon.org), are continuing their grassroots fight against what once seemed overwhelming odds.

"It’s a little hard to discern what the final impact will be, but it makes a very strong statement that the Senate was saying the FCC has ignored a large amount of public input, and is saying, ‘Go back to the drawing board and do it right,’ " says H. Philip West Jr., executive director of Common Cause of Rhode Island. West remains wary of generalizing about the wider implications of this citizen agitation, though, "because I think it takes an issue like this, where there’s really been a remarkable coming-together of people from the left and the right. The NRA has been saying to their members, ‘This [media consolidation] is crazy.’ That may not necessarily translate into activism on another issue."

Meanwhile, bids were due Monday, September 22, for part or all of Freedom Communications. The Los Angeles Times reported that Providence Equity Partners — the subject of a favorable front-page profile in the New York Times business section on Sunday, September 14 — is allied with the Blackstone Group, another private equity firm, and a faction led by a great-grandson of Freedom’s founder. According to the LA paper, "Sources close to the deal said that like the other private-equity bids, it [if successful] would lead to the sale of many company assets but would offer the remaining family members a shot at buying back the entire company at a later date."


Issue Date: September 26 - October 2, 2003
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