By: Lucia Moses Freedom Communications Inc. and Gannett Co. Inc. officials shot down today [June 19] recent news reports that Gannett will buy Freedom.
Freedom President and CEO Alan Bell said the company still expects it will resolve its process of exploring a possible sale or merger by summer's end, with the first round of bids due June 26.
"There's no under the table, over the table, or side of the table deal with Gannett, despite the rumor that has spread around the country in the past few days," Bell wrote in an e-mail message to company executives.
TV news site
www.Newsblues.com reported Wednesday that Gannett would announce a Freedom deal next week, and the story has since traveled to other sites. "Gannett gobbles up more TV stations," similarly reported
www.dcrtv.net, a Washington, D.C.-area media site. Bell wrote that similar reports also have popped up on radio stations in markets where Freedom owns media properties.
Gannett has said it's interested in Freedom, and is widely viewed by analysts to be a logical bidder for all the Irvine, Calif.-based company's 28 daily newspapers, 37 weeklies, and eight TV stations.
Gannett spokeswoman Tara Connell said of the reports: "It's just a rumor, and they're all over the place. All I know is, we've expressed interest in the company, and that's it."
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