Two Minnesota Dailies Opt to Drop Days

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By: E&P Staff Two American Consolidated Media-owned dailies in Minnesota are dropping a day of publication beginning next week.

The Mesabi Daily News in Virginia, Minn., is dropping Mondays. The Duluth (Minn.) News Tribune reported Thursday, in a story by Candace Renalls, that bundles delivered to carriers Wednesday included a notice that read, "It's official: the Mesabi Daily News will not be publishing a Monday paper henceforth."

The Daily Press in Ashland said it would not publish a Tuesday print edition, but will cover news that day with its Web site.

American Consolidated owns 11 dailies in Minnesota. Its Australian parent company, Macquarie Media Group, disclosed earlier this month that it expects the newspaper chain to be in default of the debt coverage ratios in its loan agreements. Macquarie said American Consolidated has sufficient cash flow to service its $133 million debt load, but that the technical default would give lenders the right to demand accelerated payments and possibly take over the chain.

Macquarie said it does not intend to infect more capital into the newspaper unit.

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