Has tire-kicking turned to bidding?

The Los Angeles Times, floating the idea that members of the Chandler family might seek to buy back the newspaper, also says GCI has now submitted a bid.

The relevant passages from the Times story:

"Representatives of Gannett, which owns USA Today, about 90 other daily newspapers and 23 TV stations, met with Tribune management last week and examined some of the company's private financial data, according to a Tribune executive familiar with Gannett's actions, who asked not to be named because he is not authorized to speak for the company.

"Gannett is a partner with Tribune and McClatchy Co. in CareerBuilder.com, the leading Internet job-search site. A Tribune purchase would give Gannett a controlling stake in the business, which some analysts say is worth more than $1 billion.

"The biggest obstacle to Gannett's buying all of Tribune might be federal regulations barring the concentration of media ownership.

"Federal Communications Commission rules limit companies from owning TV stations that cover more than 39 percent of the country. Currently, Tribune stations cover about 28 percent of the country, and Gannett, which focuses on smaller markets, covers 18 percent. Combined, the stations would reach about 44 percent of the country, but a combined company could probably sell off enough stations to conform to the rules, one analyst said.

"A potentially tougher problem is cross-ownership of newspapers and TV stations in the same market. Gannett would inherit Tribune's cross-ownership situations in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Miami and Hartford, Conn., and could run into further problems in Philadelphia and Indianapolis, where Gannett newspapers would be added to Tribune TV outlets.

"Tribune has been hoping for a change in the regulations, but faces a license expiration Dec. 1 for KTLA and expiration for New York's WPIX next spring.

"Gannett was unlikely to buy all of Tribune because of the regulatory headaches, but might covet the company's growing and highly profitable Florida newspapers and some of its TV stations, said one rival newspaper executive, who asked not to be identified for fear of souring his relationship with Tribune executives."