Bidding for O.C. Register’s Parent to Start Next Week

The head of Freedom Communications Inc. said Thursday that the bidding process for potential buyers of the parent of the Orange County Register will begin next week.

Chief Executive Alan Bell, meanwhile, tried to quash fresh rumors that the company was close to a deal to be acquired by media giant Gannett Co., which has expressed interest in Freedom.

The board of Irvine-based Freedom Communications, which owns 55 newspapers and eight television stations, announced in March that it would begin soliciting bids for the company, which is estimated to be worth about $2 billion.

Since then, the Federal Communications Commission has relaxed rules on media ownership, making it more attractive for a large media company such as Gannett to acquire Freedom, sources said.

But in an e-mail to some employees this week, Bell denied that any such deal was imminent.

“There is no deal,” Bell said. “There’s no under-the-table, over-the-table or side-of-the-table deal with Gannett, despite the rumor that has spread around the country in the past few days.”

Speculation about a sale to Gannett has spread via the Internet and was picked up by radio disc jockeys, one of whom played taps on the air for the Freedom paper in suburban Phoenix, which competes with a Gannett newspaper there, Bell said.

Bell said initial bids for Freedom aren’t due to the board until Thursday.

At Gannett, spokeswoman Tara Connell also called any deal just a rumor.

“We’ve said from the first day, we are interested in Freedom, but beyond that, there’s not much more to say,” she said.

Gannett, along with other media giants such as New York Times Co., McClatchy Co. and Tribune Co., which owns the Los Angeles Times, have been mentioned as potential bidders.

Freedom is one of the last family-owned U.S. media empires.

The flagship Register -- the Los Angeles Times’ biggest competitor in Southern California -- has been under family control since R.C. Hoiles bought the paper in 1935.

In recent years, the family has squabbled over control issues and the future of the company. After vetting various options presented by family members, the board decided in March to put the company up for sale.

Morgan Stanley, Freedom’s investment banker, prepared an offering book that was distributed to potential bidders last month.