Tribune Revenues Down 3.3% in November

Tribune Revenues Down 3.3% in November

Publishing Revenues Decline 3.5%; Broadcasting and Entertainment Revenues Down 2.6%

CHICAGO, Dec. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Tribune Company (NYSE:TRB) today reported its summary of revenues and newspaper advertising volume for period 11, ended Nov. 25, 2007. Consolidated revenues for the period were $413 million, down 3.3 percent from last year's $428 million. Consolidated operating expenses were 5.0 percent lower than period 11 last year.

Publishing revenues in November were $309 million compared with $321 million last year, down 3.5 percent. Advertising revenues decreased 4.9 percent to $244 million, compared with $257 million in November 2006. Advertising revenues benefited from the shift in the Thanksgiving holiday week from period 12 in 2006 to period 11 this year.

   -- Retail advertising revenues increased 7.3 percent with the largest      increases in the specialty merchandise, department stores,      apparel/fashion and electronics categories. Preprint revenues, which      are principally included in retail, were up 18.5 percent for the      period.   -- National advertising revenues increased 1.9 percent, with the largest      increases in the movies, auto, financial and telecom/wireless      categories, partially offset by a decrease in the transportation      category.   -- Classified advertising revenues decreased 26.2 percent.  Real estate      fell 39.8 percent with the most significant declines in Chicago, the      Florida markets and Los Angeles.  Help wanted declined 28.4 percent and      automotive decreased 7.6 percent.  Interactive revenues, which are      primarily included in classified, were $21 million, up 7.8 percent, due      to growth in most categories.    

Circulation revenues were down 4.6 percent due to single-copy declines and continued selective discounting in home delivery.

Publishing operating expenses in November were down 5.2 percent primarily due to lower newsprint and ink, compensation, promotion and other cash expenses.

Broadcasting and entertainment group revenues in November were $104 million, down 2.6 percent, due to decreases in television group revenue, partially offset by increases in radio/entertainment revenues. Television revenues fell 4.8 percent due to the absence of political advertising, partially offset by strength in several categories including retail, corporate, health, food/packaged goods, telecom and restaurant/fast food.

Broadcasting and entertainment group operating expenses in November declined by 2.7 percent primarily due to lower compensation and other cash expenses.

Consolidated equity income was $11 million in November, up from $8 million in the prior year period.

Tribune expects to complete its disposition of the Chicago Cubs, Wrigley Field and related real estate, and its interest in Comcast SportsNet Chicago in the first half of 2008. It plans to use the proceeds to repay existing debt.

As stated previously, the company also expects its going-private transaction to close before the end of Tribune's 2007 fiscal year following satisfaction of the remaining closing conditions, including the receipt of a solvency opinion and completion of the committed financing.

TRIBUNE (NYSE:TRB) is one of the country's top media companies, operating businesses in publishing, interactive and broadcasting. It reaches more than 80 percent of U.S. households and is the only media organization with newspapers, television stations and websites in the nation's top three markets. In publishing, Tribune's leading daily newspapers include the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Newsday (Long Island, N.Y.), The Sun (Baltimore), South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Orlando Sentinel and Hartford Courant. The company's broadcasting group operates 23 television stations, Superstation WGN on national cable, Chicago's WGN-AM and the Chicago Cubs baseball team.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain comments or forward-looking statements that are based largely on the Company's current expectations and are subject to certain risks, trends and uncertainties. You can identify these and other forward-looking statements by the use of such words as "will," "expect," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "intend," "continue," or the negative of such terms, or other comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements also include the assumptions underlying or relating to any of the foregoing statements. Actual results could differ materially from the expectations expressed in these statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ include risks related to the proposed merger transactions being consummated; the risk that required regulatory approvals or financing might not be obtained in a timely manner, without conditions, or at all; the impact of the substantial indebtedness incurred to finance the consummation of the merger; the ability to satisfy all closing conditions in the definitive agreements; difficulties in retaining employees as a result of the merger agreement; risks of unforeseen material adverse changes to our business or operations; risks that the proposed transaction disrupts current plans, operations, and business growth initiatives; the risk associated with the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against Tribune and others in connection with the merger agreement; and other factors described in Tribune's publicly available reports filed with the SEC, including the most current annual 10-K and quarterly 10-Q reports, which contain a discussion of various factors that may affect Tribune's business or financial results. These factors, including also the ability to complete the merger, could cause actual future performance to differ materially from current expectations. Tribune is not responsible for updating the information contained in this press release beyond the published date, or for changes made to this document by wire services or Internet service providers. Tribune's next annual 10-K report to be filed with the SEC may contain updates to the information included in this release.

                              TRIBUNE COMPANY      SUMMARY OF REVENUES AND NEWSPAPER ADVERTISING VOLUME (Unaudited)                   For Period 11 Ended November 25, 2007                               (In thousands)                                                   Period 11 (4 weeks)                                                                        %                                              2007         2006      Change   Publishing (A)       Advertising           Retail                           $119,660     $111,477      7.3           National                           62,851       61,668      1.9           Classified                         61,864       83,794    (26.2)            Sub-Total                         244,375      256,939     (4.9)       Circulation                            40,605       42,550     (4.6)       Other                                  24,420       21,266     14.8        Segment Total                         309,400      320,755     (3.5)    Broadcasting & Entertainment       Television (B)                         96,719      101,563     (4.8)       Radio/Entertainment                     7,328        5,230     40.1        Segment Total                         104,047      106,793     (2.6)    Consolidated Revenues (A)(B)             $413,447     $427,548     (3.3)    Total Advertising Inches (A)(C)       Full Run           Retail                                476          458      3.9           National                              248          246      0.8           Classified                            567          665    (14.7)           Sub-Total                           1,291        1,369     (5.7)       Part Run                                1,334        1,685    (20.8)       Total                                   2,625        3,054    (14.0)    Preprint Pieces (A)(C)                  1,403,562    1,265,662     10.9                                                   Year to Date (47 weeks)                                                                        %                                               2007         2006      Change   Publishing (A)       Advertising           Retail                          $1,105,814   $1,143,385    (3.3)           National                           610,972      630,762    (3.1)           Classified                         865,988    1,049,889   (17.5)            Sub-Total                        2,582,774    2,824,036    (8.5)       Circulation                            476,571      504,657    (5.6)       Other                                  249,013      228,980     8.7        Segment Total                        3,308,358    3,557,673    (7.0)    Broadcasting & Entertainment       Television (B)                       1,025,967    1,050,889    (2.4)       Radio/Entertainment                    256,221      236,278     8.4        Segment Total                        1,282,188    1,287,167    (0.4)    Consolidated Revenues (A)(B)            $4,590,546   $4,844,840    (5.2)    Total Advertising Inches (A)(C)       Full Run           Retail                               4,640        4,702    (1.3)           National                             2,479        2,725    (9.0)           Classified                           7,249        8,597   (15.7)           Sub-Total                           14,368       16,024   (10.3)       Part Run                                16,652       19,157   (13.1)       Total                                   31,020       35,181   (11.8)    Preprint Pieces (A)(C)                  12,890,349   12,794,417     0.7     (A) Operating results for Hoy New York, SCNI and Recycler are excluded       herein and reported as discontinued operations in the       Company's external financial statements.    (B) Excludes results from discontinued operations that were sold in 2006       (WATL-TV, Atlanta, WLVI-TV, Boston and WCWN-TV, Albany).    (C) Volume for 2006 has been modified to conform with the 2007       presentation.  Volume includes only the daily newspapers and is based       on preliminary internal data, which may be updated in subsequent       reports.  

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact: jreiter@tribune.com

Source: Tribune Company

CONTACT: Gary Weitman of Tribune Company, +1-312-222-3394, Fax,
+1-312-222-1573, gweitman@tribune.com

Web site: http://www.tribune.com/

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Profile: International Entertainment