Freedom Newspapers rejected a new buy-out bid.

Directors of the privately held, Santa Ana-based publishing and broadcasting firm spurned a second offer to merge the company into a new firm begun by estranged family member Harry Hoiles. In his second bid in two months, Hoiles had offered to buy the family-owned chain of four television stations and 29 newspapers--including the Orange County Register--for $98 a share, or about $920 million. The price was $2 a share higher than his August offer to his relatives. Excluding his family’s one-third ownership, the cash offer would have cost his Independence News Corp. up to $700 million. A Freedom shareholder vote indicated that 94.73% of the remaining shareholders opposed a merger with Hoiles under “any conditions, including a price higher than $98 per share.”