MediaNews placed on S&P credit watch

David Milstead, Rocky Mountain News

Published October 1, 2007 at midnight

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The debt of Denver-based MediaNews Group, owner of The Denver Post, has been placed on credit watch by Standard & Poor's, with a downgrade possible if its results continue to deteriorate.

S&P said the company's decline in EBITDA, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, is the result of lower advertising revenue in most of the company's newspaper markets.

The ratings agency said Media-News is in negotiations with its lenders to ease financial covenants that require a certain ratio of debt to earnings.

"Although MediaNews has been pursuing cost efficiency measures for some time and expects to achieve additional cost savings in future periods, revenue declines have outpaced cost cuts during the past few quarters," analyst Emile Courtney said.

MediaNews President Joseph "Jody" Lodovic did not return a call placed Wednesday morning.

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