Freedom Communications names Mitchell Stern as CEO

Freedom Communications Inc., which owns the Orange County Register and numerous other publications and television stations, has named Mitchell Stern as its chief executive, the company said Tuesday.

FOR THE RECORD:
Freedom Communications: An article in Business on Wednesday about Freedom Communications Inc.’s new chief executive, Mitchell Stern, said he declined to comment. The article should have said Stern could not be reached for comment. —

Stern, 54, is a board member of Freedom, based in Irvine, and previously held chief executive titles at DirecTV and the Fox Television Stations.

On Thursday he’ll take the reins of the privately held media company from Burl Osborne, who has run the firm as interim CEO for the last year, during which it filed for Chapter 11 protection, went through restructuring and emerged from bankruptcy, said Bob Emmers, a spokesman for Freedom.

Osborne will remain a member of Freedom’s board and serve as a special advisor to the company, Emmers said.

Stern, who declined to comment on his new appointment, was chief executive of DirecTV from 2003 to 2005.

According to a Times article written at the time, Stern resigned from DirecTV after he and Rupert Murdoch, head of parent company News Corp., clashed over what Murdoch saw as a lack of programming innovations.

Stern has spent 30 years in television but has no previous experience in newspapers outside of sitting on Freedom’s board, Emmers said.

Freedom owns 27 daily newspapers, eight TV stations and 70 weekly publications and magazines.

The company filed for bankruptcy protection in September after steep declines in advertising revenue.

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