GROUP VOWS TO FIGHT TRIBUNE REORGANIZATION PLAN

The Tribune Company on Monday filed a reorganization plan with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court and the FCC that would, in effect, make its creditors its new owners. The FCC’s approval is required because ownership licenses for Tribune’s 23 TV stations would have to be transferred to the new entity. However, Tribune employees at those stations and at its newspapers would see their stock ownership plan wiped out. Not affected, apparently, is the position of Tribune Chairman Sam Zell, who is not being asked to contribute anything to the settlement, a situation that has raised the ire of a large group of creditors who are calling Tribune’s basic debt-for-equity plan “internally inconsistent and unfair.” In a filing with the bankruptcy court in Delaware, the group, which reportedly is owed about $3.6 billion by Tribune, said, “This is a settlement made possible with ‘other people’s money.'” It vowed to fight the reorganization plan.