Scripps Co.: Old Media Dog Full Of New Tricks
The 134-year-old media company, led by CEO Rich Boehne (r), is moving away from newspapers to television with the recent purchase of the McGraw-Hill stations. With Brian Lawlor (l), television SVP, leading the charge, the near-term mission is to rebuild the stations’ cash flow margins. At the same time, Scripps has a long-range plan that focuses on investing in homegrown programming to reduce its reliance on syndicated fare; bulking up investigative news efforts; reorganizing and centralizing digital operations; and even sticking its toes in the social gaming pool. And it’s not ruling out buying more stations. “You’d definitely consider Scripps an investor going forward,” says Lawlor.
Ed Fernandez, Sam Rosenwasser and Steve Wasserman get additional group station oversight responsibilities while retaining their GM slots at WXYZ Detroit, WEWS Cleveland and WPTV West Palm Beach, respectively.
