• by Wayne Friedman , December 13, 2007

Financial data continues to get worse for Tribune Company--for both its publishing and broadcasting businesses. For November, publishing revenue sank 3.5%, while broadcasting and entertainment revenues dipped 2.6%.

Much of Tribune's newspaper business was hit from a sinking real-estate market that saw classified ad sales slide 26.2%. Real-estate ads sank 39.8% in a combination of its newspapers businesses in Chicago, Florida and Los Angeles. Job ads also tumbled 28.4%. Automotive advertising sank 7.6%.

Broadcasting and entertainment sales dipped 2.6%, with its TV station revenues losing 4.8% because of fewer political ads versus a year ago. Positive news for Tribune's TV stations came from retail, telecommunications and corporate advertising categories.

Tribune said it anticipates closing on the sale of the Chicago Cubs baseball team, as well as its stake in the local Comcast sports channel during the first half of 2008. This was part of the agreement for the $8.2 billion sale of the company to be made to property magnate Sam Zell.

Combined with a sale of Tribune's 25% interest in Comcast SportsNet Chicago, analysts say the package could grab as much as $1 billion. A leading contender for the purchase is private-equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners LLC.