The Baltimore Sun from Baltimore, Maryland • Page 53

Business The Sun Thursday, April 1, 1999 Page 3d Broadcasting The professions 2 partners departing Piper Marbury Sinclair sells stations in Midwest to Sunrise fice. The firm has 10 full-time Baltimore lawyers, but roughly 30 divide their time between Washington and Baltimore, Stamas said. Worldwide, the firm employs about 275 lawyers. Its partners include Lloyd N. Cutler, former counsel to President Jimmy Carter and President Clinton; C.

Boy-den Gray, the former Bush administration White House counsel; and Stephen N. Sachs, former Maryland attorney general. The addition of Pollak, 52, and Millspaugh, 38 both real estate lawyers will strengthen the real and NBC. KGAN is a CBS affiliate, while WICS-TV and WICD-TV are NBC stations. In Baltimore, Sinclair owns Fox affiliate WBFF and programs the WB Network's WNUV.

The sale to Sunrise is subject to Federal Communications Commission and Justice Department approval, and is expected to close by late spring. The Guy Gannett transaction, which was announced in September, is slated to close around the same time. When all pending deals are completed, Sinclair will own or program 59 TV stations in 39 markets and 51 radio stations in 10 markets. Paul T. Sweeney, an analyst with Salomon Smith Barney Holdings Inc.

in New York, said the transaction was "a good deal" for Sinclair, and added that more sell-offs and cancellations are on the way. "Another $50 million worth is what we're looking for in the near term, and we think it may even be above and beyond that," he said. Sunrise, a St. Petersburg, affiliate of Dallas investment company Hicks, Muse, Tate Furst will have 16 TV stations in 12 markets once all pending transactions are concluded. Loyola College Graduate Business Programs A Master of Business Administration FAST TRACK may be completed in as few as 10 courses for qualified candidates.

I 10 industry heavyweight but also saddled it with some holdings that it couldn't afford to keep. The stations it is selling to Sunrise KGAN-TV of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; WICS-TV of Springfield, and WICD-TV of Champaign, 111. were obtained in one of those purchases, a $310 million multistation deal with Guy Gannett Communications. "Given that we hadn't begun to operate them yet and didn't have as much investment in terms of money in these stations, it made sense to go ahead and sell them to Sunrise," said Patrick J. Tala-mantes, Sinclair's treasurer.

Talamantes said the value of Sinclair's divestitures and canceled transactions this year is about $142 million. Sinclair's new less-is-more approach is the result of financial necessity. The company reported a net loss of $16.9 million for 1998, after posting a $10.6 million shortfall the previous year. Sinclair blamed the red ink largely on the acquisitions, and has set about shedding stations that don't fit the company's overall strategy. The three stations Sinclair is selling to Sunrise seem to fall into that category.

Sinclair has traditionally sought TV stations in markets ranked 15 to 75, while the Springfield-Champaign market ranks 82nd and Cedar Rapids is 88th. Sinclair has focused on collecting affiliates of the newer, more youth-oriented Fox, UPN and WB networks rather than the more established Big Three ABC, CBS A Fellow: Pollak, Millspaugh joining Wilmer, Cutler Pickering By Sean Somerville SUN STAFF Wilmer, Cutler Pickering, the Washington-based law firm that is hiring Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke, yesterday recruited two Piper Marbury partners to its Baltimore office. The addition of Mark Pollak and Ted Millspaugh from Piper Marbury puts the number of Wilmer, Cutler Pickering Baltimore lawyers at 12. It comes three weeks after the firm said Schmoke would join the Baltimore office at the end of his term in December.

"Our legal practice is alive and well in Baltimore," said George P. Stamas, who left Piper Marbury three years ago to open Wilmer, Cutler Pickering's Baltimore of Better Deal. miitiveJIA Master ol Science in Finance Convenient class the busy professional. AACSB accredited. Baltimore American; 1 ijvTi SfHTitresuicumtt nd ten apply.

Maximum toarnif-vsluelZi1. -i' fff Besepvailoas: 410-617-5064, or 800-221-9107, ext. 5064 MBAloyola.edu estate practice at the firm's local office, which is known more for its corporate and securities work. Pollak's clients include the National Aquarium, Port Discovery Children's Museum and the Washington Redskins. He has been involved in public financing of complex real estate projects, major sports stadiums and public-private partnerships aimed at developing business districts.

Millspaugh represents institutional investors, lenders and developers. Information Sessions Columbia 7135 Minstrel Way Thursday April 8 5:30 -7 p.m. Tlmonium 2034 Graantprlng Dr. Saturday April 10 10:30 a.m Noon scheduling and locations for SBSSSBSK DIGITALEDGE" Nationwide Digitat Technology Large Digital Calling Area Includes Caller 10, Voice Mail And Paging 7 CELLULAR CUT jrr FREE DIGITAL PHONE (AFTER REBATE) 0) FREE WEEKENDS -and- DOUBLE MINUTES Transaction fits effort to cut small-market units acquired in buying spree By Mark Ribbing BUN STAFP Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. continued its slim-down yester-1 day, selling three Midwestern tele-I vision stations to Sunrise Televi-.

sion Corp. for $81 million in cash. Baltimore-based Sinclair is trying to get rid of some of the radio TV stations that it picked up during a recent acquisition binge that turned the company into an Corporate profits declined in '98 Economy, from Page Id percent registered earlier in the "The heyday of the corporate profits boom is over," said economist Allen Sinai of Primark Decision Economics in New York. "The earnings outlook for the years though positive, is nowhere near what we've seen for the last half-dozen years. The pace of in-1 crease in the U.S.

stock market has to ease up." Indeed, the market retreated "yesterday for the second consecu- tive session, more than wiping out the gain that carried the Dow Jones industrial average to a record close of 10,007 on Monday. It fell 127 points Wednesday to 9,786. In a separate report yesterday, the Commerce Department said orders for factory goods fell 2.5 in February, the most in nearly four years. A 30.6 percent in aircraft orders and a 38.2 percent plunge for military goods led the decline. Industrial machinery and electronic equipment also "slumped.

However, orders had increased 1.5 percent in January and 2.4 percent in December. Last year, consumer spending, 'which represents about two-, thirds of economic activity, helped offset weak foreign demand. It 'rose at a 5 percent seasonally adjusted annual rate in the fourth quarter and 4.9 percent for all of 1998, the most in 14 years. In addition to wages, consumers spent some of their stock gains and tapped their home equity in a wave of refinancing last year after mortgage rates fell to three-decade lows. 'Tax questions e- Members of the Maryland -Association of Certified Public Accountants are answering 'readers' tax questions through April 15.

i In 1997, my employer withheld $4,000 state income taxes. My 1997 state Income tax UltUUliy WUB 1 1ICI1U4CU my federal tax deductions for 1997 and I used $3,000 as my state Income tax. I received a refund of $1,000 from the state In 1998. My tax adviser claims that I must show the $1,000 refund as 1998 Income and pay federal taxes on it. I disagree.

Can you explain? Technically, the $1,000 refund Income In 1998 under the Tax Benefit Rule. You should claim the Income, but amend your 1997 i return to reflect the $4,000 of i 'State taxes paid. The IRS will even pay you Interest on your I jefund. In either case, this does affect your state return. ii James Wilhelm, CPA, Koehler, Sparks Hammond The above aavtce is jor general purposes only and is not 'intended as legal, accounting or ax advice.

Specific situations may vary. To ask a tax question, call Sundial, The Sun's telephone i information service, at 410-783-1800. Call 410-268-7736 in I Anne Arundel County, t410-836-5028 in Harford County, 410-848-0338 in Carroll County. 1 Using a Touch-Tone phone, in the four-digit code 6225 after the greeting. To submit questions by e-mail and access an online tax guide, go to The Sun's Web site at www.sunspot.nettax.

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