A. H. Belo Corporation, the newspaper-biz spin-off of Belo Corp., is expected to make its bow as a publicly traded company at week's end -- and while Robert Decherd's thrilled with The Dallas Morning News' "new" parent company, others ain't as convinced. Comes word today that Standard & Poor's Rating Services has lowered A.H. Belo's corporate credit and unsecured debt ratings "deeper into speculative territory on concerns about the standalone television business is taking on all existing debt." Still, its rating is stable -- at the higher end of the scale, matter of fact, just "speculative."
Also, according to Editor & Publisher, "S&P said spinning off the newspaper business into a new company called A.H. Belo gives it less asset flexibility." Belo's stock is down 17 cents thus far this morning as of 10:05, down to $16.63. --Robert Wilonsky