Bids in Tribune sale reaching fever pitch

The auction of TV broadcasting giant Tribune Media is heating up.

ION Media — a privately held operator of 70 stations across the US — has joined buyout firm Cerberus Capital and Hicks Equity Partners in a bid to buy Tribune, according to a source close to the situation.

Tribune, whose 42 US stations in- clude WPIX in New York, is also being stalked by buyout firm Apollo Global Management and Texasbased Nexstar Media, which owns 171 stations nationwide.

Nexstar is hoping for better luck this time around as its last bid was eclipsed by conservative-leaning local-TV empire Sinclair Broadcast Group. The latter thought it had a $3.9 billion deal to buy Tribune last spring until the Federal Communi- cations Commission squelched the purchase in July.

That opened up a new round of bidding that has also attracted interest from Byron Allen, the comedian-turned-media mogul who surprised the industry in the spring when he bought the Weather Channel. Allen is said to be bidding through his media firm, Entertainment Studios.

ION under Chief Executive Bren- dan Burgess has been on an expansion drive in recent years and now has at least one TV station in the top 20 markets nationally. It also is the biggest owner of UHF stations in the country.

ION’s participation would give the private equity players a muchneeded strategic partner.

Second-round bids are expected in mid-December.