Three Ohio papers to be cut to clear $3.1B Apollo purchase
New York Post
The 121-year old Dayton Daily News and two other Ohio newspapers will shrink to three days a week from daily publication to appease regulators who on Monday approved a $3.1 billion acquisition of Cox TV stations and newspapers by private equity firm Apollo Global Management.
The Leon Black-led Apollo proposed cutting back the print editions of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Dayton Daily, among others, to get around Federal Communications Commission rules banning the same owner from having a TV station and daily newspaper in the same market.
The so-called duopoly rules were all but dead in recent years until a federal appeals court in Philadelphia reimposed them in September throwing an unexpected wrench into Apollos acquisition plans for Cox Media Group.
To sidestep the rules, Apollo in late October proposed cutting the frequency of the three Ohio papers, arguing they would no longer be producing a print paper seven days a week and therefore would not draw FCC scrutiny.