MarketingProfs

MediaBuyerPlanner: A federal judge recently rejected a request for an injunction against the McClatchy Company for the sale of three of its newspapers – the San Jose Mercury News, Contra Costa Times and Monterey Herald, Reuters reports (via Yahoo).
The sale was delayed when Clint Reilly, a former political consultant and millionaire real estate investor, filed an antitrust lawsuit earlier this month against Media News Group, Hearst Corp., Gannett Co. Inc. and Stephens Media Group. Reilly’s lawyer claims that the sale, which would place the papers in the California Partnership controlled by MediaNews Group and with stakes held by Gannett and Stephens, would create a monopoly by driving prices up, hurting advertising and industry jobs.
“While there is a need to examine the consequences of the proposed sale further to ensure that no long-term harm will come to Bay Area residents, the transaction creates no pressing and imminent danger to plaintiff or the public that would justify blocking the newspaper sales,” Judge Susan Illston wrote.
According to Reuters, McClatchy, the second-largest U.S. newspaper publisher, agreed to sell Hearst the Monterey County Herald and Minnesota’s St. Paul Pioneer Press, while the other two papers went to MediaNews. Hearst then planned to trade the Monterey and St. Paul papers to MediaNews for an equity stake in MediaNews’ assets outside the Bay Area.