Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
CHICAGO (AFX) -- Media and entertainment stocks closed mixed Tuesday, with New York Times Co. among the gainers following its report of better-than-expected fourth-quarter results.
After the market closed, Walt Disney Co. said it agreed to a $7.4 billion acquisition of Pixar Animation Studios .
UPN and the WB, two of the smaller networks on U.S. broadcast television, will cease operations this fall when parents CBS Corp. and Warner Bros. Entertainment form a new network to be called the CW, CBS and Warner Bros. said Tuesday.
Under terms of the agreement, Warner Bros., a Time Warner Inc. unit, and CBS will each own 50% of the new network. Tribune Co.'s broadcasting unit and CBS's UPN affiliates have each agreed to sign 10-year affiliation agreements with the new network.
Acme Communications , owner of eight WB affiliates, rose 15% to close at $4.07. Tribune declined 25 cents, or nearly 1%, to $29.65.
New York Times Co. rose 3% to close at $28.12.
Other newspaper publishing gainers included Media General and Belo Corp. .
However, Gannett Co. declined 2.6% to $61.26 after Citigroup Smith Barney analyst William Bird downgraded the shares to hold from buy, citing among other things, industry headwinds and ongoing advertising revenue weakness in the U.K.
Magazine publisher Meredith Corp. edged 3 cents lower to $53.68 following its release of fiscal second-quarter results, which matched analyst estimates. This story was supplied by MarketWatch. For further information see
Copyright 2006 AFX News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
