E. W. Scripps Company

key people	Kim Williams (chairman) Adam P. Symson (president & CEO)

revenue	US$2.51 billion

revenue year	2024

operating income	US$412 million

income year	2024

net income	US$146 million

net income year	2024

assets	US$5.20 billion

assets year	2024

equity	US$1.32 billion

equity year	2024

num employees	c. 5,000

num employees year	2024

divisions	Scripps Networks

homepage	scripps.com

footnotes	‡R1R‡

The E. W. Scripps Company, also known as Scripps, is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a media conglomerate. The company is headquartered at the Scripps Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.[2] Its corporate motto is "Give light and the people will find their own way", which is symbolized by the media empire's longtime lighthouse logo.[3]

In terms of assets owned, Scripps is the third largest operator of ABC affiliates, behind Sinclair Broadcast Group and Nexstar Media Group, and ahead of Hearst Television and Tegna. Scripps also owns a number of free-to-air multi-genre digital subchannel multicast networks through its Scripps Networks division, including the Ion Television network and Scripps News.

The company started out in the newspaper business, expanding into radio in the mid-1930s and television in the mid-1940s. It sold off its newspaper holdings in 2014 and exited radio in 2018.

History

19th century

The E. W. Scripps Company was founded as a newspaper company on November 2, 1878, when Edward Willis Scripps published the first issue of the Cleveland Penny Press.[4]

In 1894, Scripps and his half-brother, George H. Scripps, organized their various papers into the first modern newspaper chain. In July 1895, it was named the Scripps-McRae League to reflect the leadership of Cincinnati Post general manager Milton A. McRae, a longtime partner. The company expanded during the decade to publish newspapers in California, Denver, Chicago, Dallas, Nashville, and elsewhere.[4]

20th century

In early November 1922, the Scripps-McRae League was renamed Scripps-Howard Newspapers to recognize company executive Roy W. Howard.[5]

Scripps newspapers

Syndicates

The distribution rights to properties syndicated by United Media were outsourced to Universal Uclick in February 2011. While United Media effectively ceased to exist, Scripps still maintains copyrights and intellectual property rights.[23][24]

Scripps also operated United Press International (United Press from its 1907 inception until a 1958 merger with Hearst's International News Service) until selling it off in 1982.

United Media (1978–2011), consisted of:
United Feature Syndicate (est. 1919) – syndicated many notable comic strips, including Peanuts

Broadcasting

Scripps' broadcast television stations division—also commonly known as Scripps Media or Scripps Howard Broadcasting, formerly Continental Radio, currently owns or operates 62 television stations in forty-three markets, with full-power and low-power stations as well as rebroadcaster, translator, repeater and satellite stations included. Among them, nineteen ABC affiliates, twelve CBS affiliates, eleven NBC affiliates, six Fox affiliates, two specialty network affiliated stations, and five stations independent of any network affiliation.

History

1935–1947: Early history, radio era

The company was formed in 1935 when Scripps Howard made its foray into broadcasting by purchasing radio station WFBE, renaming it WCPO after newspaper The Cincinnati Post.[47]

Later on, Scripps purchased radio station, WNOX from the Sterchi Brothers furniture chain.

National Spelling Bee

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

Sources

External links

References

E.W. Scripps Co. 2024 Annual Report (Form 10-K) SEC.gov, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, March 12, 2025^
SSP Profile & Executives – EW Scripps Co – Bloomberg bloomberg.com, retrieved October 18, 2012^
Kevin Osborne. Cover Story: The Light Dims

21st century

In October 2007, Scripps 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, Cooking Channel (formerly known as Fine Living), Travel Channel and Great American Country). The transaction was completed on July 1, 2008.

After a test launch at WFTS-TV in 2009, Scripps television stations launched YouTube channels in 2010. These are similar to YouTube channels operated by Hearst Television and LIN Television.

On February 24, 2011, United Media struck a distribution deal with Universal Uclick (now known as Andrews McMeel Syndication) for syndication of the company's 150 comic strip and news features, which became effective on June 1 of that year.[23][24] At that point, United Media, and by extension the Scripps Company, exited the syndication business.[25]

On September 12, 2011, Scripps partnered with Cox Media Group and Raycom Media to launch Right This Minute, a viral video program. On the same day, Scripps launched The List, a news magazine. Both were part of an approach for "homegrown" programming—programming created by Scripps. Raycom also launched America Now on the same day. The creator of RTM and The List applied this "homegrown" programming approach to Tegna in 2015, with the launch of T.D. Jakes. Scripps launched Let's Ask America in 2013 (now cancelled), partnering with Telepictures to do so, and Pickler and Ben in 2017.

On October 3, 2011, Scripps announced it was purchasing the television arm of McGraw-Hill for $212 million.[26] This purchase nearly doubled the number of Scripps stations to 19 with a combined reach of 13% of U.S. households. Upon the 2012 death of E. W. Scripps' grandson, Robert Scripps, the Edward W. Scripps Trust was dissolved and its stock divided among the surviving trustees.[27]

In December 2013, Scripps acquired the digital video news service Newsy for $35 million.[28]

On July 30, 2014, Scripps and Journal Communications announced that the two companies would merge and spin-off their newspaper assets. The deal created a broadcast group under the E. W. Scripps Company name and retaining the Cincinnati headquarters, and a newspaper company based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, under the Journal Media Group name.[29] The FCC approved the deal on December 12, 2014, and it was approved by shareholders on March 11, 2015.[30] The merger and spinoff were completed on April 1, 2015.[31][32] In turn, Journal Media Group was acquired by Gannett Company on April 8, 2016. Gannett had also shed their television and broadcast operations into a spin-off, Tegna, months after the Scripps-Journal merger.

In April 2016, Demand Media announced the sale of the humor/listicle website Cracked.com to E. W. Scripps.[33] In June, it acquired podcast service Stitcher from Deezer.[34]

On August 1, 2017, Scripps announced the purchase of Katz Broadcasting and its three networks plus Bounce which Katz operates, for $292 million, acquiring the other 95% of the company.[35] The purchase was completed on October 2, 2017.[36] On May 22, 2018, Scripps announced that it was changing its common stock listing back from the NYSE to Nasdaq, which occurred on June 4, 2018.[37]

On November 17, 2025, it was reported that Sinclair Broadcast Group had acquired an 8% stake in Scripps' stock, and was pursuing a potential takeover of the company.[38] Scripps stated that its board "will take all steps appropriate to protect the company and the company's shareholders from the opportunistic actions of Sinclair or anyone else".[39] A takeover attempt would also be complicated by the fact that any deal would have to be approved by the Scripps family, since it holds 93% of the company's voting rights.[39] Scripps adopted a shareholder rights plan after Sinclair made an unsolicited cash-and-stock offer at $7 per-share; on December 16, 2025, the company's board rejected the offer.[40][41]

On January 16, 2026, Sinclair filed letters with the Securities and Exchange Commission documenting its recent exchange with E.W. Scripps regarding a proposed acquisition. In the filing, Sinclair reiterated its willingness to pursue a combination with Scripps, despite the latter’s rejection of its offer.[42]

On January 19, 2026, Sinclair confirmed the statement: “Over the last few weeks, Sinclair has continued to reinforce to Scripps its willingness to engage on a proposed Sinclair-Scripps combination. Scripps has refused the invitations to speak with its single largest shareholder and instead has stated its preference to execute its standalone plan. Our last proposal to Scripps represents a premium of more than 2.4x more over Scripps’ unadjusted share price, while the cash portion alone represents a 32.7% premium over the unadjusted share price. We believe this proposal is attractive to Scripps’ shareholders and, at a minimum, is worthy of engagement. As we evaluate our options, the previously announced strategic review of Sinclair’s Broadcast business and work related to the separation of Ventures will continue. Our Board and management team are committed to unlocking the full potential of both businesses and driving continued value creation for all Sinclair shareholders."[43]

On February 26, 2026, Scripps announced its repurchase of all Inyo stations.[44][45]

type	Public
traded as	nasdaq: SSP (Class A) (1988–1991; 2018–present) (1991–2018)
industry	Broadcast television
foundation	(as the Penny Press) in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
founder	Edward W. Scripps
hq location	Scripps Center
hq location city	Cincinnati, Ohio

E. W. Scripps Company

History

19th century

20th century

Scripps newspapers

Syndicates

Broadcasting

History

1935–1947: Early history, radio era

National Spelling Bee

See also

Sources

External links

References

21st century

1947–1977: The television era

1977–1994: The independent expansion

1994–2000: Realignments and change

2000–2008: The Shop at Home era

2008–present: Scripps today

1935–1947: Early history, radio era

1947–1977: The television era

1977–1994: The independent expansion

1994–2000: Realignments and change

2000–2008: The Shop at Home era

2008–present: Scripps today

Scripps Sports (2022–present)

Television stations

Former stations

Television

Radio

Television

Radio