Scripps 2Q TV Station Revenue Grows 4%

The E.W. Scripps Co. today reported that its television station revenues in the second quarter of 2014 were $116 million, up $4.4 million or 4% from the 2013 quarter.

Advertising revenue broken down by category was:

• Local, up 3.4% to $63.2 million
• National, down 12.5% to $28.5 million
• Political, $5.3 million compared to $800,000 in the 2013 quarter
• Retransmission fees, up 21% to $12.7 million
• Digital revenue increased 9.6% to $4.4 million.

The company said the decline in national advertising revenue reflects the soft demand seen across much of the media industry.

Total TV station expenses increased 8.8% to $88 million, driven by increases in employee-related costs and higher digital expenses due to increases in sales staff and other digital support costs. The expense increase includes severance costs associated with a new master control hub in Indianapolis.

Profit in the television division was $27.8 million, compared with $30.5 million in the prior-year quarter, a drop of 8.9%.

The company has a whole reported consolidated revenues of $212 million, an increase of 2% from the year-earlier quarter.

Commenting on the second quarter results, Scripps Chairman-President-CEO Rich Boehne said: “In our television markets, good growth in local, political and digital advertising as well as retransmission revenue more than offset weakness in national advertising. Our digital-only sales force contributed significantly to the nearly 10% year-over-year increase in the TV division’s digital revenue. More than half of our stations enjoyed digital revenue growth of more than 20 percent year-over-year.

“Across all of our markets,” Boehne added, “we continue to evolve our digital and mobile products toward a goal of being the local leader in audience and revenue. In the second quarter, our local digital products benefitted from the addition of Newsy as a national and international video news source. Audience reaction was immediate and favorable, and Newsy contributed to our more than three-fold growth in valuable video views across our markets.”