The EW Scripps Company is selling its Court TV franchise to Jellysmack, a “creator growth” company that also owns the Law&Crime Network. Court TV was acquired by Scripps from Turner Broadcasting in 2019.
The sale comes amid pressure for the station group—which operates a portfolio of more than 60 stations in 40-plus markets, as well as Scripps News, Ion, Bounce, Grit, Ion Mystery, Ion Plus and Laff channels—to reduce its debt.
“This move is consistent with the way Scripps has operated for nearly a century and a half: We identify where consumer behavior is headed, build and grow businesses that meet those evolving interests and make strategic decisions about how we unlock their greatest value—whether in our portfolio or through exits that strengthen our balance sheet and position us for the future,” Adam Symson, the CEO of Scripps, said in a statement on Monday.
Last summer, the station group sold WFTX to Sun Broadcasting for $40 million; it also fought back an attempted takeover from Sinclair Broadcasting, which acquired a 9.9% stake in Scripps last fall. Sinclair proposed to acquire the Cincinnati-based station group for about $7 per share in a mix of cash and stock, but the Scripps board rejected the proposal.
The station group announced today that it has launched “an enterprise-wide transformation plan designed to improve operating performance and unlock new value, targeting annualized enterprise EBITDA growth of $125 million-$150 million by 2028,” and that it “will deliver this improved EBITDA run-rate through cost savings and revenue growth initiatives that will leverage technology including AI and automation and increase revenue yield on its existing businesses.”
Symson dubbed this transformation under the motto “We Create Connection.”
“Scripps is nearly 150 years old, and we have thrived for so long because doing well by doing good is in our DNA,” said Symson. “We are taking E.W. Scripps’ founding mission and values for the enterprise, overlaying today’s company vision to create connection, and doing so with operating principles and a cost structure we would have if we were to be founded today.”
The company held a meeting of 200 of its employees at its Cincinnati headquarters this week and said it will share more details of its transformation plan on its Feb. 26 earnings call, including the timing cadence of savings being realized and the costs to achieve the savings.
