Morning Call Parent Tribune To Buy WNEP, 18 Other TV Stations

Locator map of the Scranton-Wilkes-Barre Metropolitan Statistical Area in the northeastern part of the of . (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Tribune Co.‘s $2.73 billion acquisition of 19 television station’s from Local TV Holdings includes a major player in Pennsylvania, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre ABC affiliate WNEP.

The station, a prominent source for local news in the coal region, is among those Tribune is acquiring in a deal announced Monday that would make the Chicago company the largest TV station owner in the United States.

The deal also significantly increases Tribune’s stake in Pennsylvania.  Tribune, which publishes The Morning Call, already owns WPHL in Philadelphia and WPMT in York.  WNEP will expand the reach of the company’s television assets into 21 northeastern Pennsylvania counties, the state’s fourth-largest television market.

That area has a total of 581,020 homes with television viewers, making it the No. 54 market in the country, according to the Nielsen Co.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-tribune-buys-tv-stations-20130701,0,5253381.story#ixzz2XuuiHSK7
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Sands Casino In Bethlehem Is For Sale

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Northampton County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem is on the selling block, a source familiar with company thinking told The Morning Call.

Las Vegas Sands, the world’s largest casino company, is asking as much as $1 billion for the Bethlehem casino.  But the source cautioned it’s part of company policy to gauge outside interest on every company property in the United States.

In other words, while Las Vegas Sands’ highly lucrative Macau properties are off-limits, every Sands casino in the U.S.— even the Venetian — theoretically could be had, for the right price.

Some analysts theorize that with Sands Bethlehem revenues riding high, and potential gambling competition brewing in New York state, the time is right for Las Vegas Sands to sell Bethlehem — its only U.S. casino outside Las Vegas.

Read more:  http://www.mcall.com/news/local/bethlehem/mc-bethlehem-sands-sale-20130117,0,5249878.story

Warren Buffett Eyeing Allentown Morning Call?

President Barack Obama and Warren Buffett in the Oval Office, July 14, 2010. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Tribune Co.’s imminent emergence from an epic bankruptcy has fueled a flurry of speculation about the future of one of the country’s largest diversified news media empires.

Weighing in on the matter Thursday was one of the world’s richest men, Warren Buffett.  The Oracle of Omaha, as he is known for his legendary financial prowess, expressed interest in one of Tribune”s newspapers.  Which one?

You are reading it.

Asked if his company, Berkshire Hathaway of Omaha, Neb., might buy The Morning Call, Buffett responded: “Allentown is our kind of place.”

Read more:  http://www.mcall.com/news/local/mc-warren-buffett-allentown-morning-call-20121213,0,1492402,full.story

Allentown School Taxes To Rise 2.6 Percent

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Lehigh County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Questions. Motions. Votes.

Then silence swallowed the room as the audience counted and realized the Allentown School Board had rejected Russ Mayo’s first budget as superintendent in a stunning 5-4 vote Thursday.

“OK,” board President Robert E. Smith Jr. said. “Now what do we do? We need a budget. We need to do something.”

When another idea failed, the directors voted again on Mayo’s spending plan, which raises taxes 2.6 percent, or 1.3 mills, to 49.3 mills for the next school year. This time they passed it.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/local/mc-allentown-schools-budget-627-20120628,0,4984180.story

Morning Call’s Sunday Reach Expands

Editor’s note:  Some interesting facts about print media – local and national.

Sunday circulation of The Morning Call, the Lehigh Valley‘s largest news organization, is growing.

Average Sunday circulation for the six-month period ending March 31 was 125,549, up 3 percent compared to the same period a year earlier, according to figures released Tuesday by the Audit Bureau of Circulations, a media industry group. Sunday is the most important day for newspapers since it brings in the bulk of advertising revenue.

Weekday circulation was down 5 percent, to 100,196. The Morning Call attributed the decline to “the impact of the single issue price increase to $1.50” and “repositioning … to grow Sunday and other key advertising days of the week.”

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/business/mc-newspaper-circulation-20120502,0,7656401.story

Mack Trucks Production/Sales On Record Pace

Image via Wikipedia

…Mack produced 1,076 rigs in July, up 41 percent compared with the same time a year ago. The Volvo AB subsidiary has made 10,674 trucks from January through July. Mack’s latest figures put the company’s production up 61 percent compared with the same span a year earlier, a pace that could make 2011 one of its best years since the Great Recession sapped truck demand…

To read the rest of the article from the Morning Call, click here: http://www.mcall.com/business/mc-allentown-mack-trucks-sales-20110831,0,6080029.story

MORE MACK NEWS

Mack gets $19 million to develop ‘SuperTruck’

Federal government taps truckmaker to help with research and development project.

To read about it!  All Mack Trucks are produced in Lower MacungieTownship so this means jobs for the Lehigh Valley!

http://www.mcall.com/business/mc-allentown-mack-trucks-supertruck-d20110816,0,7574790.story?obref=obinsite

Weiner Roast: Rep. Anthony Weiner jokes

Here are some of the one-liners hitting the late-night talk shows and Twitter regarding the Rep. Anthony Weiner sexting scandal. (Just in case you aren’t tired of getting a laugh out of this yet!)

 

From the Morning Call:

 

http://www.mcall.com/entertainment/sns-anthony-weiner-jokes-pg,0,1443485.photogallery