Burgeoning Belo   

It is, says Robert W. Decherd , "a perfect fit."

Decherd is chairman, president and CEO of the Dallas-based A. H. Belo Corp., which has dramatically raised its profile and expanded its empire by purchasing Rhode Island's Providence Journal Co. for $1.5 billion.

As a result of the acquisition, Belo, owner of the Dallas Morning News , will now take over the Providence Journal-Bulletin , Rhode Island's largest paper. But more important, Belo will acquire the Journal Co.'s nine television stations, making Belo the nation's eighth-largest owner of TV stations.

Decherd says the companies are made for each other, since both grew out of newspaper traditions and now are heavily involved in television. Before the deal, Belo owned seven television stations, eight community newspapers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and three daily newspapers in addition to its flagship Morning News.

In the meantime, Decherd says there will be no major structural changes within the family run Belo company, nor within the hierarchy of the Journal-Bulletin, which will continue to be headed by Publisher Steve Hamblett .

This latest big media transaction illustrates two major trends: the growing concentration of TV station ownership (see "The Economics of Television," October) and the endangered status of independent newspapers (see "Independent's Day," October).

But the new acquisition doesn't signal the beginning of a Belo buying spree, Decherd says. Rather, the company will be shopping for only a few high-quality newspapers and adding only those TV and cable operations that fit "comfortably and naturally" with the company's goals.

While those goals include some attention to the Internet, Decherd says any investments in cyberspace will be cautious and incremental. "Right now," he says, "there's a lot of people throwing money at the idea before there's a proven marketplace."