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Summary (SWOT analysis, News, Investing Strategies)

The E. W. Scripps Company, through its subsidiaries, operates as a media company that provides content and advertising services via the Internet. It operates through four segments: Scripps Networks, Newspapers, Broadcast Television, and Interactive Media. The Scripps Networks segment operates national television networks, including HGTV, Food Network, DIY Network, Fine Living, and Great American Country. The segment also provides video-on-demand and broadband services. The Newspapers segment operates daily and community newspapers in the United States. It also owns and operates Scripps Media Center, as well as operates Internet sites, offering users information, comprehensive news, advertising, e-commerce, and other services. The Broadcast Television segment operates ABC-affiliated stations. The Interactive Media segment offers online comparison shopping services. It operates a comparison shopping service that helps consumers find products offered for sale on the Web by online retailers, as well as operates an online comparison service that helps consumers compare prices and purchase various essential home services. The company also offers BizRate, which is a consumer feedback network that collects consumer reviews of stores and products. The E. W. Scripps Company also offers other services, including syndication and licensing of news features and comics. The company was founded in 1878 and is based in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The E.W. Scripps Company (NYSE: SSP) is an American media conglomerate founded by Edward W. Scripps on November 2, 1878. The company is headquartered inside the Scripps Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.

On October 16, 2007, the company announced that it would separate into two publicly traded companies: The E. W. Scripps Company (newspapers, TV stations, licensing/syndication) and Scripps Networks Interactive (HGTV, Food Network, DIY Network, Fine Living, Great American Country, Shopzilla, uSwitch). The transaction was completed on July 1, 2008 forming Scripps Networks Interactive.

The E. W. Scripps Company is a diverse media concern with interests in newspaper publishing, broadcast television stations, and licensing and syndication.

Scripps operates daily and community newspapers in 15 markets, and 10 broadcast TV stations.

Scripps also operates Scripps Howard News Service and United Media, which is the worldwide licensing and syndication home of Peanuts, Dilbert and 150 other features and characters.

History

The Early Years (1878-1934)

In 1878 Edward W. Scripps borrowed $10,000 from his brothers to help launch America's first information revolution. With the loan, the young entrepreneur founded a newspaper in Cleveland aimed at an emerging - but yet unserved - mass audience of urban workers.

"The Penny Press," named for its affordable price, was clear, concise and politically independent. It quickly became the model for the nation's first mass medium.

From Cleveland, Scripps took the formula to dozens of other cities, building one of the first newspaper chains under common ownership.

In 1907, his independent spirit led Scripps to challenge the Associated Press, which at the time struck exclusive agreements with only one newspaper in each market, thereby discouraging the launch of competing newspapers. Scripps responded with United Press International. The service was available to all and became a leading force in worldwide journalism for decades to come.

Scripps also nurtured a syndicated features service, initially built around the writing of his sister, into a licensing and syndication company that thrives today as United Media.

In the early 1920s, Scripps added "Howard" to the company's operating name to recognize the growing contribution of Roy W. Howard, an aggressive young newsman who rose to become president and chairman of the concern.

The Advent and Development of Broadcasting (1935-1980)

At the urging of Jack R. Howard, Roy's son and later his successor, the company took advantage of America's next information revolution by launching radio stations in the 1930s, then some of the country's first local television stations in the 1940s. Two of the company's first TV stations are still among its most successful: WEWS in Cleveland, whose call letters were selected to match the founder's initials and WCPO in Cincinnati, named for its affiliation with The Cincinnati Post.

In 1950, Scripps launched Charles Schulz's comic strip, "Peanuts." Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the rest of the group quickly worked their way into the funny pages of more than 2,000 newspapers around the world.

During the 1950s, and continuing through the 1980s, Scripps solidified its position as one of the most successful newspaper publishers of the post-war era, and built its reputation as a leading operator of local television stations.

Cable Television Systems (1981-1990)

In the early 1980s, in an effort to develop a profit source that wasn't dependent upon advertising, Scripps began buying and building cable television systems, eventually becoming one of America's largest cable operators.

In 1988, for the first time in the company’s history, the Scripps family sold stock to the public. Shares of The E. W. Scripps Company opened in the public market at $8 (adjusted for a 2:1 split in 2004).

New Technology Leads to New Media Opportunities (1991-2000)

In the 1990s, to take advantage of the changes in technology and new media opportunities, Scripps began to direct its free cash flow to investments in information and entertainment content. In 1994 Scripps purchased Cinetel Productions, a Knoxville-based creator of programming for cable, and announced plans to launch Home & Garden Television.

In response to a trend toward consolidation within the cable system industry and a changing market, the cable TV systems were sold to Comcast in 1996 and the value was distributed directly to the company's shareholders.

Scripps Continues to Evolve in the New Millennium (2001 and beyond)

Building on the success of HGTV, Scripps acquired or launched four additional lifestyle television networks: Food Network, DIY Network, Fine Living Network and Great American Country.

In 2005 Scripps acquired Shopzilla, an online comparison shopping service that creates a market of tens of millions of products offered by thousands of online merchants. UK-based uSwitch, an online comparison service focusing on essential home services, was acquired.

On July 1, 2008, the five cable networks and the two online comparison shopping services split off into a publicly traded company: Scripps Networks Interactive (NYSE: SNI). Shares in the new company were distributed to Scripps shareholders on a one-for-one basis in the form of a dividend.

Scripps newspapers

The Company owns 18 newspapers in the United States, and has a share of a 19th newspaper's operations. It owns about 40% of the Albuquerque Publishing Company, which operates (but does not editorially control) the Albuquerque Journal.[1]

Scripps-owned newspapers:

• Times Record News (Wichita Falls, Texas)
• The Abilene Reporter-News (Abilene, Texas)
• Daily Camera (Boulder, Colorado)
• The Daily News (San Francisco, California)
• Colorado Daily (Boulder, Colorado)
• The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tennessee)
• Evansville Courier & Press (Evansville, Indiana)
• Kitsap Sun (Bremerton, Washington)
• The Knoxville News-Sentinel (Knoxville, Tennessee)
• Naples Daily News (Naples, Florida)
• The Port St. Lucie News (Port St. Lucie, Florida) - Branched off from Stuart News
• Rocky Mountain News (Denver, Colorado)
• Stuart News (Stuart, Florida) - First newspaper acquired by Scripps in 1965
• The Tribune (Scripps) (Ft. Pierce, Florida)
• Ventura County Star (Ventura, California)
• Vero Beach Press Journal (Vero Beach, Florida)
• San Angelo Standard-Times (San Angelo, Texas)
• Corpus Christi Caller Times (Corpus Christi, Texas)
• The Anderson Independent-Mail (Anderson, South Carolina)

Closed newspapers

• The Albuquerque Tribune (Albuquerque, New Mexico) (closed 2008)
• Birmingham Post-Herald (Birmingham, Alabama) (closed 2005)
• Cincinnati Post (Cincinnati, Ohio) (closed 2007)
• Cleveland Press (Cleveland, Ohio) (closed 1982)
• Columbus Citizen-Journal (Columbus, Ohio) (closed 1985)
• Fort Worth Press (Fort Worth, Texas) (closed 1975)
• Houston Press (Houston, Texas) (closed 1964)
• Memphis Press-Scimitar (Memphis, Tennessee) (closed 1983)
• New York World-Telegram (New York City) (closed 1966)
• Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) (closed 1992)
• Thousand Oaks News Chronicle (Thousand Oaks, California) (closed 1995)
• The Washington Daily News (Washington, DC) (sold 1972)

Broadcasting

E.W. Scripps' broadcast division, which is also known as Scripps Howard Broadcasting Company, currently owns ten television stations.

Scripps also previously owned the Shop at Home home-shopping television network, which in turn owned five television stations. On May 22, 2006, Scripps announced that it was to cease operations of the network and intended to sell each of Shop at Home's five owned and operated television stations.[2] Jewelry Television eventually acquired Shop at Home, but Scripps still intended to sell its affiliated stations. On September 26, 2006, Scripps announced that it was selling its Shop at Home TV stations to New York City-based Multicultural Television for $170 million.

National Spelling Bee

Scripps also operates the national (US) spelling bee. The final competition is in Washington, DC and broadcast on ESPN and ABC. Lower levels are organized by the school, then county and eventually to the final competition.

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