Times Mirror Earnings Forecast: Times Mirror Co.,...

Times Mirror Earnings Forecast: Times Mirror Co., which owns The Times and other media properties, said it is unlikely to show a year-over-year improvement in operating earnings in 1989. Operating results rose 7% for the first three quarters of 1989, but several factors will affect the fourth-quarter outlook, said Chairman Robert F. Erburu. These include the costs of additional circulation at The Times associated with the closure of the Herald Examiner, a difficult operating environment for the company’s newspapers in the East, and a legal settlement and new tax reassessment that will reduce cable television operating results in Orange County by at least $5 million. Erburu, who made his comments at the Paine Webber Media Outlook Conference in New York, said the company has stepped up its cost-containment program, adding, “We have good reason to believe that we can show improvement in 1990, barring an economic downturn.”