YOUNG SETS OUT BROAD COST-CUTTING PLAN

Young Broadcasting Inc. today announced a “streamlining of its station operations” which it says will save the company an estimated $15 million on an annualized basis. It includes reducing the

company’s workforce by about 11%.

The plan involves the use of new digital technologies and what it called “a comprehensive reexamination of what is necessary to deliver quality, locally oriented television broadcasting.”

Over the past few weeks, Young said, it has implemented expense reductions that will save approximately $13 million during the remainder of 2008. Once these savings are annualized, the company will have reduced the cost of operating its stations by about $15 million. As a result of the layoffs, Young said it will incur an estimated $2.5 million of severance costs.

In addition to the initial savings, the company has identified $4.5 million of additional savings that will be implemented in 2009 and 2010. These savings, it said, are “primarily focused on purchases of outside services and do not involve significant staffing reductions.”

Vincent Young, chairman of Young Broadcasting, stated: “This represents the second major initiative we have taken this year to re-launch the company. In January we announced the hiring of Moelis & Co. to sell KRON-TV in San Francisco. The expense savings program announced today significantly reduces the cash expenditures throughout our station group. In addition, we are pursuing other plans,” Young continued, “that we believe will lead to significant savings in corporate overhead and station operations beyond the amounts described above. These moves are not focused on personnel reductions, but target the outside services that the company has previously purchased. We fully expect to continue to reduce our costs each quarter this year.”

Commenting on the impact on the company’s financing, James Morgan, Young’s chief financial officer, remarked: “Historically, our company has been most comfortable operating with a leverage ratio between 5.5 and 6.5 times. Our two strategic moves, the planned sale of KRON-TV and dramatically improving our productivity, puts us firmly on the road to returning to those levels.”

Young’s new initiative also includes the following actions:

• Operate the stations on a zeroto negative expense increase basis.
  
  
• Re-allocate resources to focuson improving news reporting and news gathering functions important tolocal needs of the communities served.
  
  
• Earmark capital investments of$5 million in 2008. These purchases are centered on the increased use oftechnology to more efficiently support operations.
  
  
• Increase use of the videojournalist approach to expanding news gathering capabilities andintroduction of server based systems to efficiently produce newscasts.

Maintain a long-term view of its business that is not dependent on any short-term events (e.g., a single sweeps ratings period).