Scripps Same-Station Revenue Up 39% in Quarter

Homegrown access shows in place of 'Wheel' and 'Jeopardy' "had a positive impact"

By Michael Malone -- Broadcasting & Cable, 2/26/2013 9:58:38 AM

Scripps reported fourth-quarter television station revenue of $152 million, well up from $84.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2011. The quarter included revenue from television stations in Indianapolis, Denver, San Diego and Bakersfield that were acquired Dec. 30, 2011. On a same-station basis, television revenue increased 39% in the quarter. Local ad revenue was up 11% while national grew 12%. Political advertising tallied $56.9 million.

Scripps' digital revenues in the fourth quarter increased 59% to $4.4 million, and grew 29% on a same-station basis.

Excluding the newly acquired stations from the 2012 performance, consolidated revenues increased 14% year over year to $225 million.

"Our repositioning of Scripps really paid off in the fourth quarter, and in all of 2012," said Rich Boehne, Scripps president and CEO. "Investing to expand our television portfolio and to improve our local news programming resulted in an attractive platform for political advertising and the most effective voice for election-year journalism ever staged by Scripps. We also took advantage of the election year to build out our digital product portfolio across both TV and newspaper markets, expanding audiences and attracting new revenue sources."

Consolidated revenues rose 32% to $260 million in the fourth quarter.

"The new stations in Denver, Indianapolis, San Diego and Bakersfield finished their first year as Scripps stations with strong revenue growth," said Boehne. "And our decision to replace underperforming syndicated shows with internally produced programming had a positive impact in the first year. Our two newest shows -- Let's Ask America and The List -- are performing well from both ratings and financial perspectives."

Total revenue from Scripps newspapers in the fourth quarter was $105 million, down 4.6% from the fourth quarter of 2011.

Scripps forecasts television revenues to be flat in the first quarter, compared to 2012's first quarter.