Good News from Dennis FitzSimons

From: Internal News
Sent: Monday, November 20, 2006 4:17 PM
To: zzAll LATimes Employees
Subject: Update from Dennis FitzSimons

Dear Fellow Employee:

Today we reported companywide revenues for October. The television group posted an increase of 5 percent from a year ago, due in part to strong political advertising. Publishing revenues declined 4 percent, although retail advertising, which includes preprints, rose 3.3 percent. Further details are in the release posted on TribLink and tribune.com.

Preliminary revenue estimates for November show slight improvement for both publishing and broadcasting versus October.

Here are a few other positive developments from around the company:

· The CW Network: Combined ratings in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago since the network's launch in September are up 11 percent from last year when our stations carried The WB. Among viewers 18 to 34, the network's target audience, ratings are up 17 percent.

· Newspaper circulation: We're making good progress on individually paid circulation (home delivery and single copy), the category advertisers value most. Four papers-the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Sun-Sentinel and Daily Press-recently reported growth in daily individually paid, placing them among the top performers in the industry. The Hartford Courant showed individually paid growth on Sundays.

· Newsprint: It appears that the pricing trend for newsprint is flattening for the balance of this year and into 2007, a welcome change from the double-digit price increases we've experienced in recent years.

· Tribune Interactive: Revenues increased 25 percent in October, and our websites recorded 14.3 million unique visitors, the most since May. Expanded video news coverage is helping drive traffic and, in turn, creating new revenue opportunities as more advertisers want to be associated with online video. You'll see more about this in the winter issue of Tribune News.

· Topix.net: Last week, along with Gannett and McClatchy, we increased our investment in Topix.net, a Top 25 news site. This underscores one of our key interactive strategies of using partnerships to build national networks with local affiliates.

· Los Angeles Times: We're beginning to see good results from the Times' distribution agreement with ADVO, which began in August. The agreement expands the newspaper's insert program and will improve cash flow.

Finally, our review of strategic alternatives for the company continues. I'm sure you've been following the media reports, but keep in mind that many of them are based on pure speculation. We'll communicate more as soon as we can, and your patience is appreciated as the process moves forward.

Thank you for your many efforts on behalf of Tribune, and best Thanksgiving wishes to you and your family.

Sincerely,

Dennis