Belo to Spin Off TV and Newspaper Assets

Company to Spilt Into A.H. Belo, Belo Corp.

By Jon Hemingway -- Broadcasting & Cable, 10/1/2007 11:38:00 AM

Belo is spinning off its newspaper assets to shareholders, separating them from the company’s television-station business and making Belo the largest pure-play publicly traded television-station operator in the country.

Through a tax-free distribution of new shares to Belo shareholders, the company will create two publicly traded companies: A.H. Belo, which will hold the newspaper assets, and Belo Corp., which will hold the company’s television stations and two regional cable news networks. The transaction is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2008.

After the spinoff, Belo Corp. will comprise 20 stations in 15 markets, reaching 14% of U.S. households. The television assets are generating $750 million in annual revenue. Belo’s current chief operating officer, Dunia Shive, will become the company’s president and CEO.

Among the assets A.H. Belo will hold are the Dallas Morning News and the Providence Journal. The combined newspaper and related online assets reach 3.7 million people and currently generate $750 million in revenue annually. The new company will be debt free at the time of the spinoff. Belo’s current CEO, Robert Decherd, will be president and CEO of the new entity.