Gannett

Gannett, parent of USA Today, has hired a headhunting firm to search for a new chief digital officer — but the search so far has been a slog,

Asset purchase agreement drafts have passed between the two companies and a deal may come as soon as today. Tronc’s board of directors held a meeting last Thursday and its lawyers have been at work on the deal since, with a likely price of $18.50 to $19 a share. 

The AP, Gannett and Vice are suing the FBI to learn how the government hacked an iPhone in its San Bernardino massacre investigation, specifically who it turned to for the solution and how much it spent. Eric Tucker reports on the lawsuit looking to get to the bottom of the “mysterious transaction.”

Gannett Co. has invested an undisclosed amount in the aggregator with a view to helping itself reach more readers with its USA Today Network while at the same time giving Digg more original content to work with. The move adds to Gannett’s growing portfolio of digital investments, and branded content production will also come of the partnership.

Looks like the third time may be a charm, as Gannett Co.’s latest offer for Tronc has solicited a counteroffer from the former Tribune Publishing. Tronc’s board met last Thursday in Chicago to discuss the counteroffer, but it isn’t talking about the latest moves publicly, Gannett’s most recent offer came in the mid $18-a-share range during an in-person L.A. meeting.

Gannett Co. is offering to buy Tribune Publishing in a cash sale for $12.25 a share, the company said Monday. The sale is valued at $815 million, including Tribune’s $390 million of debt.

The broadcasting and digital arm, now called Tegna Inc., will run the company’s television stations and websites such as CareerBuilder. It will also include Cars.com. Tegna starts trading on the New York Stock Exchange today under the “TGNA” ticker symbol.

New corporate senior leadership teams announced for each company effective upon completion of spinoff.

Ken Doctor: “Gannett CEO Gracia Martore and her investor relations people have been busy priming the sales pump of their new broadcast-digital company for several months. Now they’ve got a name of sorts to put on the new company — after its divestiture of its financially woeful publishing division — that’s among the top three in regional broadcasters, with a strong digital classifieds portfolio.”

Once it separates from its publishing assets, the broadcast and digital company will be known as Tegna and trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol TGNA.

Gannett will partner with video applications provider ViewLift to develop a new service that will focus on streaming unique sports-related content and select movies across multiple devices.

President and CEO Gracia Matore (left) earned $12.4 million in total compensation in 2014, while broadcasting chief Dave Lougee earned $2.49 million, the company’s annual proxy filing shows.Gannett paid its five top executives collectively more than $24 million in the year.

Gannett said the activist investor had also withdrawn his corporate governance proposals that would have made it easier to sell the media company.

CEO Gracia Martore says that “with 43 stations covering 30% of the country … there’s quite a bit on the drawing board.” Dave Lougee, president of Gannett Broadcasting, adds that the company is looking at not only home-grown programming but also pursuing cooperative ventures with other broadcasters.

Most local media companies are keeping mum about their plans for the forthcoming Apple Watch, but E.W. Scripps and Gannett say they’re ready with apps to follow right behind its March launch. USA Today will display its five top stories plus breaking news on its app, and Scripps’ apps are likely to feature weather, traffic, push notifications and geolocation.

Meredith Conte, who oversees marketing at Gannett’s 43 stations, says her job “is a little of everything.” But of all her myriad tasks designed to boost the stations’ visibility — and ratings — she says the one she thinks is most appreciated by those in the trenches is being “an extra person, an additional marketer, who can bring in a fresh viewpoint.”

In its 2Q earnings report, Gannett cites weakness in the national ad market. “An increase of almost 1% in local revenue was more than offset by a 7.3% decline in national revenue.”

Gannett President David Lougee says his group’s new partnership with Debmar-Mercury will develop syndicated shows that leverage America’s obsession with social media. “There’s an opportunity for us and other broadcasters to take advantage of the organic relationship between social media and television,” he says. “The majority of our viewers have an Internet-enabled device within three feet of them when they are watching television.”

The Weinstein Co., which produces films like Philomena and Silver Linings Playbook, and TV shows like Project Runway and Mob Wives, is partnering with Gannett to turn reporting from its TV stations and newspapers into TV shows and movies.

With the addition of the NBC affiliate, the diginet’s reach jumps to 17% of TV homes.Also this week, WeatherNation made its debut on two other Gannett stations, KTHV Little Rock, Ark., and WFMY Greensboro, N.C.

At a special meeting in Dallas Wednesday, shareholders of Belo Corp. voted in favor of the proposal to approve and adopt a merger agreement with Gannett.

The Gannett Denver NBC affiliate is kicking off the NFL season — today’s Broncos Day —  with day-long coverage culminating in tonight’s Broncos-Ravens matchup. Coverage began today at 4:30 a.m. and will run in various formats through tonight’s game and into its late news. The station is relying on two microwave trucks and bonded cellular gear throughout the day for the remote broadcasts. It’s also got a large social media element and is airing more coverage on co-owned KTVD.

The Department of Justice asked Gannett and Belo for more information about Gannett’s $1.5 billion purchase of Belo, the companies said Friday. Announced in June, the merger would double Gannett’s TV station portfolio and create the nation’s fourth largest owner of “big four” network affiliates. Gannett played down the DOJ’s second request as a “standard part of the DOJ review process” and reiterated that the company expects to close the transaction by the end of the year. Still, a second request can soak up a lot of time.

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has sold off its $38 million stake in newspaper publisher Gannett Company and purchased $23 million worth of shares in the Dish Network, according to SEC filings.

During today’s earnings call, CEO Gracia Martore says the company “will pursue additional opportunities as they arise,” with the goal of being the “leading local media company in the U.S.”

Overlapping stations in Phoenix and St. Louis will continue to battle it out for ratings and revenue as the “ability of local broadcasters to compete and thrive” is key to their viability, says Gannett’s head of broadcasting David Lougee. “We will operate those stations and hold them to the same standards and accountability that we do today.”

The deal, which includes $1.5 billion in cash and $715 in assumption of debt, creates a self-described “super group” with 43 stations and accelerates the print-to-electronic transformation of Gannett. The valuation pegs the cash-flow multiple at 9.4x without expected synergies of $175 million or 5.4x with the synergies.

Gannett offers no details, except that it has “reached an agreement” that will enable DirecTV to continue retransmitting signals from its 23 television stations. Gannett had warned viewers that a “signal disruption” was possible if the companies remained at impasse over a new contract Friday night, when the previous deal with DirecTV expired.

Newspaper groups and a handful of vendors see networks as the answer to filling a void in local online news video. At Digital First and Gannett, the route lies in producing and curating locally produced video and sharing it across their properties. Vendors such as AP and iNK Barrell Video Networks help papers ramp up local production and share in the resulting ad revenue.

Media companies need to think beyond the banner and focus on ads that become part of the content in users’ experience, according to David Payne, chief digital officer for Gannett, where the focus is shifting away from banners and direct response to full-screen video and rich media and the power of branding. Full Story | Add comment

The group owner says it has the top three stations in primetime viewership of the games in the adults 25-54 demo and its NBC affils also comprise four of the top five and six of the top 10.

(RTTNews) — Gannett Co. said Monday that it has appointed Larry Kramer president and publisher of USA Today, effective immediately. Kramer, founder of MarketWatch and a 40-year media industry veteran, […]

He’s joining Computer Sciences Corp. as VP-CFO. Gannett VP-Treasurer Michael Hart will serve as interim principal financial officer while it searches for a permanent CFO.