Scripps: More TV Everywhere Deals to Come

Effective ratings measurement will drive success

By Mike Farrell, Multichannel News -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/8/2013 3:20:31 PM

Scripps Networks Interactive chairman and CEO Ken Lowe said he expects to sign on more TV Everywhere deals in the next 18 to 24 months for his channels, but stressed that effective ratings measurement is needed for the service to proliferate.

Scripps signed a comprehensive carriage deal - including TV Everywhere - with Comcast in July and Lowe said the networks have similar deals with about 60% of its distributors. He added that Scripps channels, especially Food Network, can benefit from TV Everywhere deals because it could prolong the time that viewers watch its shows as they take their tablets or smartphones into the kitchen as they cook.

"It probably is going to give us an opportunity to have longer viewing periods, we could actually see more ratings because you've got multiple uses of devices throughout the home as opposed to just one stationary TV screen," Lowe said at the Citigroup Global Internet, Media and Telecommunications conference in Las Vegas. "We're very positive about the future of TV Everywhere. But I do think it is incumbent on the industry - we have got to get the measurement right as quickly as possible."

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