Arbitrator: Sun-Times owes $42 mil

An arbitrator says the Sun-Times Media Group must pay at least $42 million to a Canadian publisher and broadcaster.

The Chicago-based owner of the Chicago Sun-Times sold a group of Canadian newspapers to CanWest Global Communications Corp. for $3.2 billion in 2000. At the time, Sun-Times Media was called Hollinger International and led by former media mogul Conrad Black.

Black was convicted in 2007 of siphoning millions of dollars from the Sun-Times and its other newspaper holdings.

CanWest originally claimed it was owed $69 million as part of an adjustment to the purchase.

Sun-Times Media says it may appeal the arbitrator's ruling. The company recently closed 12 Chicago-area newspapers as part of cost-cutting measures brought on by declining revenue.