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Sarasota Cable News Channel SNN Will Return

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By WALT BELCHER | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 25, 2009

Sarasota's 24-hour cable television news channel will resume operation at 5 p.m. Thursday, station owner and general manager Linda DesMarais said.

SNN, launched by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune in 1995, went off the air in January after an attempt to sell the news operation to DesMarais and other investors fell through.

A key investor backed out, but DesMarais, her husband, Douglas Barker, and other investors in LDB Media LLC have negotiated the purchase, which should close this week. The purchase price was not disclosed.

SNN will continue its exclusive partnership with Comcast Cable on channel 6, DesMarais says. She adds that the channel's name was "tweaked" from SNN News 6 to SNN Local News 6.

"We are thrilled to be back on the air so quickly," she says. "I'm grateful for the support offered by Comcast and the Herald-Tribune Media Group, and I am especially grateful for the overwhelming support from the community."

On Jan. 27, SNN's 32 employees were placed on unpaid leave for a week and then laid off.

Returning are 25 employees, including morning anchors Lauren Mayk and Kathy Leon, weeknight anchor Adrienne Stein, chief meteorologist Justin Mosely, sports anchor Antawan Smith and weekend anchor John Hill. Not returning is reporter Bruce Asbury, who has retied.

SNN Local News 6 will continue to operate out of the Herald-Tribune's building on Main Street in Sarasota, and the newspaper's staff will continue to collaborate with the station, DesMarais said.

Barker is the president and chief executive officer of LDB Media LLC and former president/general manager of WWSB-TV in Sarasota. A key investor in SNN is Philip Lombardo, chief executive officer of Citadel Communications Co. of New York, which owns network-affiliate television stations.

Reporter Walt Belcher can be reached at (813) 259-7654.

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