Matt Welch points to a NY Times piece that reveals the DoJ has signed a consent decree with New Times Media and Village Voice Media:

In a quiet end to a highly contested investigation, the Justice Department signed a consent decree on Saturday with New Times Media and Village Voice Media, two newsweekly chains that it had accused of dividing markets when they closed competing papers in Cleveland and Los Angeles last October, according to representatives of both companies.

There is no admission of guilt in the consent decree, but each company is required to aid the opening of new weekly papers in Los Angeles and Cleveland by selling assets, including the rights to the names of the closed newspapers — The Cleveland Free Times and The New Times Los Angeles — as well as lists of advertisers, office equipment and newspaper racks. Each company will pay a fine of $375,000 to the State of California and a much smaller amount to the State of Ohio.

Now, if this story had come across my screen at this time yesterday, I would have had no clue what it meant. But after listening to Ken Layne's radio appearance yesterday, I am far more enlightened!

Bottom line, if I understand this mess correctly, is that The Los Angeles Examiner, Layne's new alt-weekly that he's been toiling away at, is likely to be the major beneficiary of the "aid the opening of new weekly papers in Los Angeles" clause above.

From the Times story, it's not clear just how significant that will really be --- it kinda sounds like they'll be forced to offer them some office supplies at cheap prices, no? Ken was actually asked directly whether the Examiner's business model was counting on such a settlement in the interview yesterday, and his answer was a flat no; as far as he knew, nobody at the Examiner had been contacted about it at all.

Interesting, though, and surely every little bit will help for the Examiner...