Testimony begins in Trib bankruptcy plan hearing

WILMINGTON, Del. — An investment bank official says a proposed legal settlement underpinning the Tribune Co.'s Chapter 11 reorganization plan is a reasonable solution to allow the media conglomerate to emerge from bankruptcy.

David Kurtz, a managing director of Lazard, was the first witness called Tuesday to testify in a two-week trial that could decide the fate of Tribune. A U.S. Bankruptcy judge must decide whether to approve Tribune's proposed reorganization plan, a competing plan submitted by dissident bondholders, or neither.

Tribune owns the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, other newspapers and several radio and TV stations. It filed for bankruptcy protection in 2008, less than a year after an $8.2 billion leveraged buyout engineered by billionaire developer Sam Zell that left it saddled with more than $12 billion in debt.