ENTERTAINMENT & MEDIA

S&P; Cuts Times Mirror Debt Ratings: Standard & Poor’s Corp. said it has cut Times Mirror Co.’s senior debt and shelf debt registration to A-plus from AA-minus and commercial paper to A-1 from A-1-plus, affecting about $900 million in debt. The cuts reflect S&P;’s view that Times Mirror’s recovery to profitability will be delayed by continued weakness in its key media markets. Although the company’s results improved last year after adjusting for unusual items, Times Mirror’s flagship newspaper, the Los Angeles Times, has been hurt as the Southern California economy weakened, the agency said. S&P; said performance at the company’s Newsday tabloid, operating in the sluggish New York metropolitan area, as well as other Eastern newspapers in weak economic markets, also dim Times Mirror’s prospects. But it said the overall outlook is stable because Times Mirror’s financial conditions should remain unchanged as capital spending and cash uses have been brought into line with lower cash flow.