E.W. Scripps

“What’s old is new again, and broadcast linear television is seen by younger audiences as the perfect pairing for subscription services and virtual MVPDs. They’re plugging in digital antennas and tuning in to free, over-the-air television,” Scripps CEO Adam Symson told analysts this morning. “The combination of our local television portfolio and our five Katz networks uniquely positions Scripps to take advantage of the over-the-air renaissance in the media marketplace.”

The increase to $330 million was aided by a jump in retrans revenue and higher core advertising stemming from its acquisition of 26 stations in 2019.

Scripps shareholders of record as of March 16 will receive 5 cents per share, payable on March 25. The company also authorized a share repurchase program of up to $100 million of Class A shares running through March 1, 2022.

TV broadcasters including E.W. Scripps, Tegna, Fox Owned Stations and KSL have laid down bets of varying sizes in the podcast medium, drawn by the potential of expanding audiences, motivating newsrooms and new revenue streams.

He will continue to serve as the company’s president and CEO for three more years.

Sarah Jacobs has been named director of revenue strategy and Maggie Drake has been appointed senior director of OTT revenue.

Greg Anderson is chosen to lead the company’s privacy and data protection programs.

The station group moves him up from digital director and editorial director at WTMJ, Scripps’ NBC affiliate in Milwaukee, to work with newsroom leaders in nine of Scripps’ local TV markets to implement, evaluate, measure and refine the company’s local content strategy.

News organizations are increasingly using breakthroughs in technology to allow journalists to remotely, yet quickly, deliver more content over multiple platforms. The advances range from improved cellular networks that speed transmission of content from the field to the newsroom and cameras capable of streaming and providing remote video, to a host of tools available for journalists to remotely edit and produce content while collaborating with their newsrooms. Above, Grass Valley’s new GV Alyve, released at this year’s IBC Show, gives reporters a “virtual control room in the cloud” for production and distribution of video and livestream content. (Source: Grass Valley)

“I think we were all nervous about the General Motors strike and that had no impact on us,” Local Media President Brian Lawlor told analysts. In fact, he added, the ad categories of furniture, bedding, travel and leisure, cruises, jewelry, shoes and appliances, all were “up significantly. It really gives us a lot of hope that our local economy and our local markets are very healthy.”

The increase to $252 million was aided by a 21% rise in retrans revenue and higher core advertising.

It moves Laura Tomlin to executive vice president, national media, while Carolyn Pione Micheli becomes senior vice president, corporate communications and investor relations.

The board of directors of the E.W. Scripps Co. today declared a cash dividend for the fourth quarter of 2019. Scripps shareholders of record as of Dec. 13, 2019, will receive 5 cents per share, payable on Dec. 24. The dividend will be paid out of the company’s surplus.

Adam Symson, president and CEO of The E.W. Scripps Co., says leading the company isn’t a quarter-to-quarter proposition, but rather about taking a decades-long view. From that vantage, he sees a growing marketplace for podcasts and multicasting, along with a deepening the OTT sales business and ATSC 3.0’s longer-term potential as crucial fronts to buttress the company’s core broadcast business.

With no common measurement data, OTT services are playing by multiple rule books, broadcast executives say at TVNewsCheck’s OTT News Summit.

Executives from leading local and national news players in the OTT space discuss their various options for packaging and presenting content on the platform. Also crucial is figuring out how best to differentiate one’s OTT service from the many competing options, overcoming a lack of viewing metrics and personalizing content for viewers.

While conversations between broadcasters and car makers are just starting, ATSC 3.0 proponents say that given the three-to-five-year build cycle of a typical new model it’s crucial to get 3.0 receiver chips into car makers’ design plans by next spring so they’re ready to roll in 2024, by which time next-gen stations will be broadcasting across the U.S.

Tegna, Tribune, Scripps, Fox and Graham are among a growing number of TV broadcasters who are exploring adding audio content and advertising platforms. A study from the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers puts podcast ad revenues at $313.9 million in 2017, and projects that it will more than double, to $659 million, by next year.

For right now, the company says it’s focused on integrating all its recently-acquired stations. But, said CEO Adam Symson, “it won’t be long before we’re positioned again to pursue accretive M&A.”

Much of that increase was fueled by a 21% rise in retransmission consent revenue to $85.4 million.

The $521 million deal adds 15 stations in 10 markets to Scripps’ portfolio and bumps up its reach to nearly 21% of U.S. TV households.

Scripps-owned Newsy has added five more bureaus and expanded beyond a collection of online and mobile news packages to an OTT channel and to 38 million cable homes. And while Newsy bills itself as a “next-generation news network” aimed at millennials, its distinctive approach has valuable lessons for local broadcasters striving to adapt to a changing competitive landscape.

Scripps chooses the local TV sales and management veteran to lead its California ABC affiliate.

The Justice Department is OK with Nexstar’s spin-offs of eight TV stations to Scripps, part of its deal to acquire Tribune. Scripps is buying eight stations in seven markets for $580 million. The sale keeps Nexstar on the right side of FCC ownership limits.

The FCC has approved the sale of Cordillera Communications TV stations to Scripps plus the sale of one Cordillera station to Quincy. In fact, the sale of the Cordillera stations is contingent on that spin-off of KVOA Tucson. Scripps has also been given permission to continue operating Cordillera’s KBZK Bozeman, Mont., as a satellite of Cordellera’s KXLF Butte.

Developers of the software or platforms that make automated spot sales possible will be demanding a small percentage of the business they handle, possibly up to 1.5%. With broadcasters’ ringing up several billion in national spot sales each year, the automation fees could quickly run into tens of millions of dollars.

Nexstar CEO Perry Sook sacrificed 19 stations to bring his proposed $4.1 billion merger in line with FCC and DOJ ownership limits. There is now no reason why regulators should stand in the way of  the deal, including the transfer of Tribune’s top four duopoly in Indianapolis. Also, here’s a quick review of the winners and losers in Nexstar’s spinoff auction.

The spinoffs reflect Nexstar’s regulatory compliance plan to secure approvals for its Tribune Media deal. Tegna is buying 11 stations in eight markets and Scripps gets eight stations in seven markets.

The boost to $281 million was attributed to political advertising revenue of $82 million plus $77.9 million in retrans money. Local Media profit was $98.7 million, compared to $45.4 million in the year-ago quarter.

The Justice Department has signed off on the sale of 15 TV stations from Evening Post Industries’ (EPI) Cordillera Communications to Scripps for $521 million. That came in an early termination notice Tuesday released by the Federal Trade Commission, which divvies up merger reviews. The notice means that the antitrust review has been ended early with no issues that would cause the deal to be blocked or conditioned.

Tegna, Hearst and EW Scripps are all planning on submitting final offers for Cox Media Group’s 14 TV stations at the end of January, according to people familiar with the matter. Final bids are due by Jan. 30, said the people, who asked not to be named because the process is private. A deal could fetch more than $2 billion, and possibly close to $3 billion, the people said.

The group reups WGBA Green Bay, Wis.; WTMJ Milwaukee; KJRH Tulsa, Okla.; WPTV West Palm Beach, Fla.; and KSHB Kansas City, Mo.

The spinoffs from the Gray-Raycom merger brings Scripps’ holdings to 36 TV stations in 26 markets and gives Scripps its first stations in Texas and expands its Florida presence.