• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, February 23, 2012

Media General, which publishes 23 daily newspapers including the Richmond Times-Dispatch and The Tampa Tribune, disclosed it has received expressions of interest from potential buyers for some of its newspaper properties. The company didn’t say which properties might be for sale.

In addition to the larger metro dailies named above, Media General also publishes a number of smaller dailies and community weeklies throughout the Southeast, including properties in Virginia, the Carolinas and Alabama. The company also has a broadcast TV business, including 18 local TV stations.

The sale of some newspaper properties could help Media General reduce its substantial debt, now totaling over $650 million. The company previously disclosed that onerous debt payments could become an issue this year, raising the prospect of default and even bankruptcy.

The company is counting on the “strong market positions” of its print products to fetch a fair price. Its newspaper brands are the leading print products in their core markets.

Although there is no guarantee a sale will occur, this would be just the latest in a series of deals in the newspaper space, where a large number of mid-sized regional dailies have traded hands in recent months.

In mid-November, The San Diego Union-Tribune was sold by Platinum Equity to MLIM, LLC, a company owned by San Diego real estate developer Doug Manchester, for an undisclosed sum. Two weeks later, Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the investment company founded by billionaire investor and Omaha native Warren Buffett, acquired the Omaha World-Herald for $200 million, including $150 million in cash and the assumption of $50 million in debt.

In late December, The Chicago Sun-Times and a number of other daily and weekly newspapers serving the Chicago area were acquired by Wrapports LLC, a new company was created by Chicago businessman Michael Ferro and media executive Timothy Knight, in a deal worth over $20 million. And in early January, The New York Times Co. sold its Regional Media Group, including 16 newspapers and related businesses, to Halifax Media Holdings LLC for $143 million in cash.