Monday, June 19, 2006

Tribune Revenues Up 2% in May

Publishing Advertising Revenues Up 3.6%; Television Revenues Up 0.9%

CHICAGO, June 19, 2006 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Tribune Company (TRB) today reported its summary of revenues and newspaper advertising volume for period 5, ended May 21, 2006. Consolidated revenues for the period were $467 million, up 2.1 percent from last year's $458 million.

Publishing revenues in May were $330 million compared with $323 million last year, up 2.0 percent. Advertising revenues increased 3.6 percent to $265 million, compared with $256 million in May 2005. Excluding Newsday, advertising revenues increased 5.6 percent.

-- Retail advertising revenues were up 3.7 percent with gains in the
hardware/home improvement stores, personal services and amusements
categories offset by weakness in food & drug stores, department stores
and several other retail categories. Preprint revenues, which are
principally included in retail, were up 3 percent. Excluding Newsday,
preprint revenues increased 7 percent.

-- National advertising revenues declined 1.3 percent as weakness in the
auto, financial, technology and movie categories was partially offset
by transportation, telecom/wireless and media.

-- Classified advertising revenues rose 6.6 percent. Real estate and help
wanted rose 37 percent and 1 percent, respectively. Automotive
classified declined 13 percent. Interactive revenues, which are
primarily included in classified, were $18 million, up 29 percent, due
to strength in all categories.


Circulation revenues were down 5.0 percent. Selective discounting continued as part of the company's strategy to stabilize individually paid circulation.

Broadcasting and entertainment group revenues in May increased 2.3 percent to $138 million, compared with $135 million last year. Television revenues rose 0.9 percent; improvement in autos and strength in telecom and financial/professional services was partially offset by weakness in retail, restaurant/fast food and movies. Radio/entertainment revenues increased 7.6 percent due to a higher number of Cubs home games versus last year.

MID-YEAR MEDIA REVIEW


Tribune Company executives will participate in the Mid-Year Media Review on Tuesday, June 20. Representing the company will be Dennis FitzSimons, president, chairman and CEO, and Don Grenesko, senior vice-president/finance and administration.

The presentation begins at 9:00 a.m. ET. A live webcast of the presentation will be available at http://www.tribune.com and http://www.midyearmediareview.com/webcast . An archive of the webcast will be available for 30 days.

SECOND QUARTER EARNINGS

Tribune Company will announce second quarter 2006 earnings on Thursday, July 13, before the market opens. A conference call to discuss the results will be held that day at 8 a.m. CT (9 a.m. ET, 6 a.m. PT). The full text of the earnings announcement and accompanying financial tables will be available on Tribune's website, http://www.tribune.com .

To access the call, dial 866/277-1182 (domestic) or 617/597-5359 (international) at least 10 minutes prior to the scheduled 8 a.m. start. The participant access code is 30255633. Replays of the conference call will be available July 13 through July 20. To hear the replay, dial 888/286-8010 (domestic) or 617/801-6888 (international) and use access code 91055015.

A live webcast will be accessible through http://www.tribune.com and http://www.earnings.com . An archive of the webcast will be available July 13 through July 27.

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. Such comments and statements should be understood in the context of Tribune's publicly available reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including the most current annual 10-K report and quarterly 10-Q report, which contain a discussion of various factors that may affect the company's business or financial results. These factors could cause actual future performance to differ materially from current expectations. Tribune Company 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. The Company's next 10-Q report to be filed with the SEC may contain updates to the information included in this release.

TRIBUNE (TRB) is one of the country's top media companies, operating businesses in publishing 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 operates 11 leading daily newspapers including the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and Newsday, plus a wide range of targeted publications. The company's broadcasting group operates 26 television stations, Superstation WGN on national cable, Chicago's WGN-AM and the Chicago Cubs baseball team. Popular news and information websites complement Tribune's print and broadcast properties and extend the company's nationwide audience.

SOURCE Tribune Company

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