Frisco

Scripps sees progress in sale of Bounce TV Network

Bronwen Cerys August 9, 2024

EW Scripps announced that the sale of its Bounce TV multicast network is imminent.

“We are making good progress with our efforts to sell the Bounce TV network and certain non-strategic real estate assets,” Scripps CEO Adam Sysmon said in the company’s second-quarter earnings release.

Selling Bounce and other assets would help Scripps reduce its heavy debt burden.

Bounce is part of Scripps’ national networking division. In the second quarter, Scripps Networks’ segment profit fell to $37.7 million from $60.3 million a year earlier.

Sales fell by 9.7% compared to the previous year.

Scripps acquired Bounce when it bought Katz Networks in 2017

Scripps has made its foray into the world of sports, offering women’s basketball and soccer on its Ion network, as well as NHL hockey games on its stations in Las Vegas and Phoenix.

Symson said sports help Scripps sell advertising.

“While the results of last year’s national advertising upfront still impact our quarterly results in the Scripps Networks division, we are seeing better performance in this season’s upfront sales cycle,” he said.

“We delivered low single-digit year-over-year volume growth thanks to commitments from most of our advertising agency clients. Sports made the difference. Our WNBA Friday night franchise on Ion has had three games to date where viewership exceeded 1 million, proving to advertisers that ION can get them in front of a significantly larger sports audience,” said Symson.

Overall, Scripps reported a net loss of $13 million, or 15 cents per share, in the second quarter. The year before, the company reported a loss of $682.4 million, or $8.10 per share, when it took a large write-down at Scripps Networks.

Sales fell 2% to $574 million.

Scripps’ local media division reported segment profit of $88.1 million, compared to $81 million in the same period last year.

Sales increased 3.6% to $365 million.

Sales revenues fell to $194 million from $195 million a year earlier.

Core advertising revenue, excluding political spending, fell 6.9% to $139 million. Political revenue was $28.2 million, compared to $3.8 million a year earlier, when there was no presidential election.

The company expects record levels of political advertising spending in 2024, even if spending is at the low end of its forecast, which currently stands at between $270 million and $290 million. Scripps had previously expected political advertising revenue to be between $240 million and $270 million.

“Campaign spending for the U.S. Senate races in Montana and Ohio remains stable, and at least four states where we have stations have placed reproductive rights issues on their November ballots,” Symson said. “We see additional upside with Vice President Kamala Harris entering the presidential race. Overall, the trajectory of political advertising revenue on broadcast television this year is a testament to our resilience as a brand-safe platform for political candidates and campaigns.”

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