Cox Media Group says it has been granted a 60-day extension to continue publishing daily newspapers in Dayton, Hamilton, Middletown and Springfield while looking for a new buyer for the papers, reports wvxu.com.
Apollo Global Management's Terrier Media agreed to pay $3.1-billion last February for Atlanta-based Cox Media Group, which includes WHIO-TV, Dayton's top-rated TV station; news radio WHIO-AM; country music WHKO-FM; classic hits WZLR-FM; the Dayton Daily News, Springfield News-Sun, the Journal-News in Hamilton and Middletown; and Dayton.com.
At the time, the government permitted "cross ownership" of television stations and daily newspapers in the same market. However, a Third Circuit Court of Appeals in October re-instated a 1975 Federal Communications Commission rule banning cross ownership. With the rule back in place, Terrier told the FCC in November it would reduce publishing to three days a week so they would no longer be daily newspapers.
The former Gov. James M. Cox media company has owned the Dayton Daily News and WHIO-AM for 85 years, since 1935 -- adding TV in 1949 -- and was "grandfathered in," or exempt from the rule. The new owners were not.
Cox revealed Thursday for the first time that it was under a deadline ending that day -- Jan. 16 -- "to reduce the newspapers publication from a daily print schedule to three says a week, in order to comply with a recent federal court decision."
Cox said it expects to have a buyer for its three Ohio newspapers by March 16, "a move that will provide a long-term solution," said Rob Rohr, vice president for Cox's Dayton market.
Separating the 121-year-old Dayton Daily News from the WHIO TV/radio news operation won't be easy. Dayton print, broadcast and online journalists work in the same newsroom at 1611 Main St., near the University of Dayton, and share their reporting on the various platforms. The Journal-News has an office on Cincinnati-Dayton Road in Liberty Township near Lakota East High School; the News-Sun has an office at 137 E. Main St. in Springfield.
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