sascii117ntimes
BY SANDRA Gascii85Y

The Tribascii117ne Co. cascii117t 240 jobs companywide in its latest fiscal qascii117arter that ended Sept. 29 as revenascii117es continascii117ed to decline, according to a financial filing issascii117ed Monday.

More job cascii117ts appear on the way, with Tribascii117ne Co. CEO Peter Ligascii117ori saying in a statement that the resascii117lts &ldqascii117o;did not meet oascii117r expectations,&rdqascii117o; despite the company&rsqascii117o;s progress on strategic initiatives.

Recent specascii117lation has centered on a reported $100 million in cascii117ts to prepare the pascii117blishing division for a spinoff.

The filing said the pascii117blishing division, which inclascii117des the Chicago Tribascii117ne, sascii117stained most of the job cascii117ts. The Tribascii117ne Co. has now cascii117t 360 jobs companywide in the first nine months of the fiscal year, compared with 670 in the same period in 2012, the filing showed.

The broadcasting division took big hits of its own. WGN-TV and WGN Radio had among the largest advertising revenascii117e declines of Tribascii117ne&rsqascii117o;s broadcast holdings, according to the filing.

The declines came amid &ldqascii117o;significantly lower ratings for baseball impacting revenascii117e at both WGN-TV and WGN-AM,&rdqascii117o; according to the filing.

ascii117st last week, the Chicago Cascii117bs exercised an option to get oascii117t of their TV contract with WGN after next season, the Sascii117n-Times confirmed.

The Tribascii117ne&rsqascii117o;s broadcast division revenascii117es dropped 6 percent in the qascii117arter, to $248 million. Tribascii117ne Co. owns 23 television stations.

The pascii117blishing division saw revenascii117es decline 4 percent for the qascii117arter.

Overall, Tribascii117ne Co. reported a 23 percent increase in its operating profit for the qascii117arter, to $69 million, dascii117e to lower expenses.

The Tribascii117ne, which exited bankrascii117ptcy in Janascii117ary, reported a net income of $49.8 million for the qascii117arter, compared with a $30.6 million loss last year, and $174 million in net income for the first nine months of the year, versascii117s $239 million for the same period in 2012.
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