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LISA NAPOLI: You’ve only got a few hours left to get your bid together for Tribune Company. Tonight’s the deadline. You could scoop up some major media might: 11 papers and two dozen TV stations that reach 80 percent of the country. You’d also get the Chicago Cubs. Dan Grech says all that isn’t attracting many buyers.

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DAN GRECH: Some private equity firms have shown a lukewarm interest in the Tribune Company.

And several so-called vanity buyers, millionaires looking for a new hobby, are eying the Los Angeles Times.

But there may be no good bids for the whole Tribune Company when the auction ends today.

Jim Rutherfurd is with Verona Sulher Stevenson, a private equity firm that specializes in media companies.

JIM RUTHERFURD: We are at an inflection point, where some people can get more excited about the opportunities and others can get more concerned about the challenges. And that makes for a very interesting time for newspaper businesses that are for sale.

Interesting, and depressing.

If Tribune can’t find a buyer, the company’s left with a sinking stock price, an outdated business model and no clear option to turn things around.

I’m Dan Grech for Marketplace.