Orange County Register

Mondo Times editors    Boulder, Colorado USA

Posted at 4:30pm on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009

Freedom Communications, the parent company of the Orange County Register newspaper, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on September 1, 2009. The Orange County Register reported:

"Freedom Communications Inc. in Irvine, parent of the Orange County Register, reached agreement with the company’s lenders on the restructuring of its debt and will complete the process through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization filed in a Delaware court today, company officials announced.

“I consider this to be good news, not bad news,” said Burl Osborne, Freedom’s interim chief executive. “It’s not about liquidation or going out of business. It allows the company to operate more effectively.”

Under the reorganization, Freedom’s debt will be cut to $325 million from more than $770 million.

Existing shareholders, including members of the founding Hoiles family, and two private equity firms, the Blackstone Group and Providence Equity Partners, will retain a 2 percent equity interest in the company. They also will be granted warrants that will allow them to purchase up to 10 percent of the shares in the company.

However, the family, which has owned the flagship Register since 1935, and has since seen the company grow to 33 dailies, 70 weeklies and other publications, and eight television stations, will give up control to the banks. The lenders will select a new board and appoint a new CEO.

Osborne said he expects the bankruptcy process to take four to six months, although it may take a little longer to get Federal Communications Commission approval for the company’s television stations."

The full story:
http://ocbiz.freedomblogging.com/2009/09/01/register-parent-files-chapter-11-bankruptcy/14381/

Mondo Times editors    Boulder, Colorado USA

Posted at 12:08pm on Wednesday, August 19th, 2009

The Orange County Register no longer has a book editor, the newspaper integrated the position into its entertainment department.

Mondo Times editors    Boulder, Colorado USA

Posted at 2:49pm on Sunday, August 2nd, 2009

The Los Angeles Times will take over home delivery of the Orange County Register, the Register reported on July 29, 2009:

"The Orange County Register will be delivered to homes and vending machines by the Los Angeles Times starting in September, the two newspapers announced Wednesday.

Larry Riley, the Register’s vice president of circulation and distribution, said the deal is expected to save the Register seven figures a year in payroll and warehouse costs. For the Times, the Register will become its largest commercial delivery contract.

The change will affect 721 independent contractors who deliver the Register and approximately 55 full-time and 143 part-time workers, who will be laid off, Riley said.

“We are facing challenges and we have to find efficiencies,” he said.

The Times will distribute the Register and its weekly publications to subscribers, Riley said. Separately, the Register contracts with ACI to deliver its weeklies to nonsubscriber households and that arrangement will continue.

Riley said Register customers should see little change in their newspaper delivery.

“There are going to be new individuals throwing (the paper) for us and there may be a few issues…but about a year ago we contracted with the Riverside Press Enterprise to deliver for us in some areas and very few customers realized that change,” Riley said.

Register Publisher Terry Horne called the deal a perfect match."

The full story:
http://ocbiz.freedomblogging.com/2009/07/29/register-times-announce-joint-distribution-agreement/13609/

Mondo Times editors    Boulder Colorado USA

Posted at 5:27pm on Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009

Jerry Seinfeld is looking for Orange County couples with marital troubles for a new reality TV series, the Orange County Register reported on June 1, 2009:

“The Marriage Ref,” a new reality series with comedian Jerry Seinfeld as executive producer, will hold a casting call in Irvine on Thursday, looking for O.C. couples willing to air their dirty laundry in front of a national TV audience.

Actually, if you fight with your partner about doing the laundry, that might be even better.

“The Marriage Ref,” which will air on NBC at some future date, is looking for “outgoing and opinionated couples in long-term relationships” who will go on TV to “have a long-standing argument or issue that must be resolved.”

In case you’re wondering whether you qualify, examples given include: fighting over an object, person or habit “that is a third wheel in the relationship,” your partner’s “annoying, obnoxious habit,” or your partner doing things “like withold(ing) sex after a fight?”

The marriage refs on the show — celebrities, athletes and comedians — will issue rulings and try to resolve the disputes."