Freedom Communications to sell to Digital First Media, says Freedom lawyer

Freedom Communications, the owner of the Orange County Register and Riverside Press-Enterprise, will accept the bid of Digital First Media on Monday, the company’s bankruptcy lawyer said Saturday.

The decision comes after a federal judge halted the sale of the papers to Tribune Publishing, the owner of the Los Angeles Times, with a temporary restraining order issued late Friday night.

“It’s been very topsy-turvy, but my guess is that it’s over, because Tribune, I don’t believe, will be able to get the temporary restraining order removed in a timely maer,” said William Lobel, a lawyer with the Costa Mesa-based firm of Lobel Weiland Golden Friedman. “So we have determined, as the sellers, to take the bid of Digital First Media, and we will appear in court Monday to confirm the sale.”

Freedom declared bankruptcy last fall and Tribune, Digital First Media — which owns nine daily newspapers in Southe Califoia, including this one — and a group including current Freedom leadership, all bid on the company on Wednesday. On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Justice filed to stop the sale of Freedom to Tribune Publishing, citing conces over the monopolies it would create in Orange and Riverside Counties.

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