E.W. Scripps

E.W. Scripps CEO Adam Symson and NewsNation anchor Connell McShane told a NewsTECHForum audience Tuesday that TV news needs a more durable model based on more consistent community engagement and more room for conversation and discovery around subjects. (Image: Symson, left, and McShane)

Until 2024’s political windfall machine can kick in, TV groups have been leaning into revenue opportunities from sports rights and streaming prospects like FAST channels, where the breakeven mark is getting closer.

Chris Nagus, senior director of storytelling and content strategy at E.W. Scripps, explains how he works closely with reporters across the group’s stations to hone their journalistic chops and storytelling skills to make for stronger newscasts. A full transcript of the conversation is included.

Dueling coalitions — the affiliate-led Coalition for Local News and O&O-led Preserve Viewer Choice Coalition — have raised the temperature on a long-simmering argument over who should be able to negotiate retransmission rights with vMVPDs. The growing size of the vMVPD revenue pot in an awful year for spot TV may have a lot to do with the timing.

The media veteran, most recently at NBCUniversal, will lead Scripps’ push to expand its share of advertising revenue in the local, national and CTV marketplaces.

Executives from NBCUniversal Local, Disney Advertising Sales Local, E.W. Scripps, Tegna and Ticker News will share the revenue upsides and expectations they’re framing up for different streaming platforms in a panel at TVNewsCheck’s TV2025: Monetizing the Future conference at the NAB Show New York on Oct. 25. Register here.

As ATSC marked its 40^th anniversary at last week’s conference, conversations resoundingly turned to alternative uses for the NextGen TV spectrum including datacasting and PNT applications.

E.W. Scripps President-CEO Adam Symson has laid out a bold way forward for local TV news to reengage with substance, backing it with investments and more reporters. Will the market let him stay on that path?

The decrease to $312 million was driven by lower core and political advertising as well as distribution revenue. For the company as a whole, total 1Q revenue was $528 million, a decrease of 6.7%, or $37.9 million.

Word is that E.W. Scripps is laying off 300 people as part of a previously reported restructuring. Scripps News correspondent Cat Sandoval tweeted about losing her job and warned more layoffs were following.

After landing a deal to broadcast WNBA games Friday nights nationally on Ion, the E.W. Scripps Co. is looking for more sports leagues and teams to put on its national networks and local stations. “If we found another league that was the right fit and intersected so well with the demographics that we have on Ion, there’s room for more,” Scripps CEO Adam Symson says. And Scripps is also monitoring the regional sports networks situation.

Station groups and syndicators are looking to collaborate more in an effort to make new shows work for everyone.

The company promotes Dean Littleton from VP-GM of its KMGH Denver to SVP, directing the operations of all Scripps’ television stations.

Technology executives from Fox Corp., CBC/Radio-Canada, E.W. Scripps, Nevion and TAG Video Systems took the measure of IP networking’s progress among broadcasters in a TVNewsCheck webinar last week. The chasm between its vanguard and smaller stations remains wide.

She will design and lead the human resources strategy for Scripps, overseeing the talent management, talent acquisition, learning and leadership development, employee experience, HR business partners, employee relations, compensation and benefits
and HR operations.

A little over a year ago, one of the country’s biggest broadcasters made an unexpected transaction: E.W. Scripps, which operates dozens of ABC, NBC and Fox stations as well as a handful of nationwide broadcast networks, quietly bought Nuvyyo, a Canadian startup best known for its Tablo DVR devices for cord-cutters. The acquisition, which hasn’t been previously reported, is part of Scripps’ multibillion-dollar bet on acquiring stations, networks and spectrum for an ATSC 3.0-powered antenna TV future.

Angelika Albaladejo and Jessica DeLeon are two former print reporters currently going through the Google-sponsored Journalism Journey Initiative to transition their skills to TV at E.W. Scripps stations. They share the tougher parts of the transition, the fresh-eyes advantages they bring to TV and how other former print reporters may follow in their stead. A full transcript of the conversation is included.

The increase to $433 million was powered by political advertising and increased distribution revenue. For the company as a whole, total 4Q revenue was $681 million, an increase of 9.4%, or $58.7 million.

Industry leaders from Fox Television Stations, Debmar-Mercury, E.W. Scripps, Sinclair Broadcast Group and Sony Pictures Television will unpack business challenges and programming opportunities in a panel at TVNewsCheck’s Programming Everywhere event at the NAB Show on April 16. Register here.

The former digital director of WFTS Tampa will oversee the Scripps-Cox network that offers local news from eight markets in the state.

E.W. Scripps and Gray Television are taking advantage of cable and satellite’s diminished state to make a play for professional sports rights. It’s about time for broadcasting to reclaim them.

She has led marketing strategies for Scripps’ national networks, including the rebranding of Scripps News from Newsy; now she will oversee marketing for the entire company in this newly created position.

The Scripps Florida 24 Network, which covers local and state news in Miami, Tampa, West Palm Beach, Tallahassee and Fort Myers, will add coverage from Cox’s stations in Jacksonville and Orlando later in the first quarter.

Lisa Knutson, who was president of Scripps Networks, will assume the role of chief operating officer. She will lead the restructuring and is taking over responsibility for the company’s operating results. The leaders of Local Media and Scripps Networks will report to her.

Leaders from The Washington Post, E.W. Scripps, NBCUniversal Local and Bitcentral told an audience at TVNewsCheck’s NewsTECHFourm that traditional newscasts are in need of a shakeup, but core features like relatable anchors and a clear sense of connection to community can’t be jettisoned in the changes. Above (l-r): Scripps’ Socrates Lozano, NBCUniversal Local’s Meredith McGinn, Bitcentral’s Sam Peterson, WCBS New York’s Sarah Burke, Washington Post’s Micah Gelman and moderator TVNewsCheck‘s Michael Depp (Alyssa Wesley photo). Read a full report here and/or watch the video above.

The company taps Brian Lawlor as president, charging him with furthering its sports programming initiatives through widely showcasing leagues and players that are currently limited by aging distribution deals.

Execs Jason Combs and Rebecca Riegelsberger spelled out for investors how their  company is targeting over-the-air, pay TV and connected TV. “We take all of the brands and maximize our monetization in each of these households,” he explained.

News, technology and media futurists from The Washington Post, NBCUniversal Local, E.W. Scripps, CBS News New York and Bitcentral frame out how they’re envisioning, testing and implementing changes to longstanding news conventions in a panel at TVNewsCheck’s NewsTECHForum event at the New York Hilton on Dec. 13. Register here.

Early on, it thought the mid-term elections would attract spending that would beat its record revenue in 2020’s presidential election. That didn’t quite happen, but CEO Adam Symson said, the company was still proud to post record political revenues for a mid-term election.

The increase to $378 million was powered by climbing political advertising and increased retransmission consent revenue. For the company as a whole, total 3Q revenue was $612 million, an increase of 10%, or $56.9 million.

The early consumer experience of NextGen TV has been hampered by government regulations that make it hard for viewers to differentiate the new services from the legacy ATSC 1.0 programming already delivered over-the-air, according to broadcasters. Capacity is tight for both the 3.0 and 1.0 broadcasts, and broadcasters are aggressively using video compression to make it all work. L-r: E.W. Scripps’ Kerry Oslund, Pearl TV’s Anne Schelle, Fincons Group’s Francesco Moretti and ATSC’s Madeleine Noland (Alyssa Wesley photo).