S&P lowers Allbritton

Standard & Poor's said it lowered its corporate credit and issue-level ratings on Allbritton Communications Co. to B- from B.

The outlook is negative.

The agency said the downgrade reflects its expectation that weak ad demand will significantly undermine Allbritton's operating performance in 2009 and the resulting concern that the company may not be able to maintain an appropriate cushion of compliance with its total leverage covenant.

The B- rating on Allbritton reflects financial risk from high leverage, covenant compliance pressure, cash flow concentration from limited portfolio diversity and recessionary pressure on advertising, S&P said. The lease-adjusted debt-to-EBITDA ratio deteriorated to 8 times as of Dec. 31 from 6.7 times as of Dec. 31, 2007 because of lower EBITDA.

The company's good position in its TV markets, TV broadcasting's good margins and its discretionary cash flow potential only partially offset these factors, in the agency's view.

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