In the latest retransmission consent battle, 40 stations owned by E.W. Scripps were dropped from Comcast’s Xfinity pay TV service after the two sides were unable to reach a new retransmission consent agreement on March 31.

In a statement on its website, the pay TV operator said that “Comcast pays programmers to bring customers the entertainment, information, and sports they want. Comcast works to negotiate fair terms in order to ensure the greatest value for customers, given all the ways content can be accessed today. A number of reasonable offers have been made that E. W. Scripps hasn’t accepted. Comcast continues to work towards making this programming available again with fair pricing and terms for our customers.”

Comcast said that E. W. Scripps owns and operates 40 broadcast stations nationwide in the Comcast footprint, including, 19 Big Four stations (e.g., ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC), and 21 non-Big Four stations (e.g., Independent).

In a statement, Scripps said that “"Scripps has been negotiating in good faith to reach an agreement that reflects this value and is fair for both parties and viewers. We hope Comcast recognizes the critical value we play for our communities and restores our stations' signals so we can continue to serve their customers. Until then, Xfinity customers can still find our local news and sports programming for free over-the-air, on our station websites, streaming apps and on other locally available cable and satellite providers."

As part of its Q4 2025 earnings report, E.W. Scripps has announced that it is exercising its option to re-acquire 23 ION-affiliated stations for about $54 million.

The stations were divested to INYO Broadcast Holdings in January of 2021 as part of its acquisition of ION so that the deal would comply with Federal Communications Commission ownership caps.

The plan to reacquire them comes at a time when the FCC is signaling that it is open to altering or eliminating ownership caps and several broadcast station groups have announced deals that would require changes or waivers of ownership rules.

Scripps noted that the deal would require FCC approval and that deal would close after FCC approval.

If approved, Scripps said that the ownership of these INYO stations would be immediately accretive to the company’s Network segment profit and margin.

In the Q4 earnings call, Jason Combs, executive vice president and CFO said “the transaction allows us to expand our already sizable spectrum holdings. After close, we will no longer be paying the owner of those stations affiliate fees -- so acquiring these station assets will be immediately accretive to the Scripps Networks division segment profit and margins. We will seek waivers for the transaction under the FCC's current television station ownership rules.”

Later in the call, Combs added that “we had to divest these stations to comply with the FCC rules back in 2021. And with current regulatory environment, we think it's the right time to reacquire them. The ownership of these stations is immediately accretive from the segment profit and a margin perspective, plus we also get some favorable tax benefits. So we have -- this transaction will ultimately relieve a significant onetime tax liability we've been carrying on our balance sheet. So when you kind of put all of that together, it just seemed like the right thing to do.”

CINCINNATI—E.W. Scripps has issued a statement responding to news that Sinclair has acquired about 8.2% of the outstanding class A (nonvoting) shares in the company.

Sinclair has also disclosed that it has been talking to Scripps about a possible deal for several months.

Scripps’ shares spiked more than 40% on Nov. 17 after Sinclair disclosed the stake in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. They were trading at $4.34 on Tuesday at 11:15 a.m. ET, up from $3.06 on Friday, Nov. 14, at 4 p.m. ET.

In a statement, Scripps stressed that its “board of directors and management are focused on driving value for all of the company’s shareholders through the continued execution of its strategic plan. The board and management are aligned on doing only what is in the best interest of all of the company’s shareholders as well as its employees and the many communities and audiences it serves across the United States. The company’s board has and will continue to evaluate any transactions and other alternatives that would enhance the value of the company and would be in the best interest of all company shareholders.”

However, the company’s response also said “the board will take all steps appropriate to protect the company and the company’s shareholders from the opportunistic actions of Sinclair or anyone else.”

Scripps operates a portfolio of more than 60 stations in 40-plus markets. It also owns Scripps News, Court TV, Ion, Bounce, Grit, Ion Mystery, Ion Plus and Laff.

Sinclair acquired its 8.2% stake for about $15.6 million. Those shares are however non-voting shares. The Scripps family controls about 93% of the voting shares, according to Seeking Alpha.

Dealmaking for broadcast stations continues to heat up, with Sinclair reporting it has built up a 8.2% stake in E.W. Scripps and has been talking with Scripps for several months about a possible deal.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Sinclair indicated that it has acquired 6,275,204 shares of Scripps Class-A Common Stock, about 8.2% of all outstanding shares, and that it had “acquired the Class A Common Stock in contemplation of a possible combination with the issuer.”

Sinclair also noted that its directors, top executives and financial and legal advisers “have engaged in constructive discussions” with Scripps “for several months regarding a potential combination of the two companies.”

Scripps operates a portfolio of more than 60 stations in 40-plus markets. It also owns Scripps News, Court TV, Ion, Bounce, Grit, Ion Mystery, Ion Plus and Laff.

In the filing, Sinclair said “a combination offers both near- and long-term value creation for shareholders of each company. Based on prevailing trading multiples and more than $300 million in expected annual synergies estimated by the Reporting Person [Sinclair] based on public financial information, holders of the Issuer's common stock would receive an ownership stake in the combined company that the Reporting Person estimates would be worth approximately three times the average trading price of the Issuer's common stock over recent periods.”

Sinclair added, “the proposed combination would be structured to require no external financing as the combined company would maintain each company's respective debt and preferred capital structures. As a result, the transaction would avoid significant refinancing costs while meaningfully reducing the Issuer's leverage through the realization of synergies and lowering future refinancing risk.”

Sinclair and other broadcasters have been lobbying the Federal Communications Commission to relax ownership caps for broadcasters. In August, Sinclair signaled its willingness to acquire stations with the announcement that it was embarking on a strategic review of its business.

“Scale wins in today’s broadcast industry, and we intend to lead that consolidation,” Sinclair President and CEO Chris Ripley said in an August statement. “Our Broadcast business’ industry-leading performance positions us as the partner of choice for value creation. Simultaneously, we expect separating Ventures will crystallize significant value that the market has overlooked within our current structure, giving us even more flexibility to drive our broadcast strategy forward.”

During the Q3 earnings call, Sinclair also laid out a number of financial benefits that might accrue from industrywide consolidation.

“Recent industry consolidation and intensifying competition reinforce the Reporting Person's view that further scale in the broadcast television industry is essential to address secular headwinds and compete effectively with larger-scale big-tech and big-media players, as well as major broadcast groups,” Sinclair said in the Nov. 17 filing with the SEC. “Greater scale will also strengthen broadcasters' ability to sustain their vital public service role in producing local news. The Reporting Person believes combining with the Issuer provides the ability to compete successfully for advertising share, critical programming, and distribution economics through enhanced local and national scale, coupled with disciplined execution of synergies.”

The SEC filing is available here.

Amid much commentary about the negative impact high-valued sports streaming initiatives could have on local TV stations and MVPDs there’s another much more optimistic view emerging from the ranks of several publicly traded station groups.In sharp contrast to those who feel threatened by sports rights owners’ surging embrace of streaming, these station owners contend they are making significant headway with opportunistic adjustments to the new reality.

Even in the case of “Spulu,”—the unofficial name of the mega sports streaming joint venture between ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery scheduled to launch later this year—there’s a big split between those who are shrugging it off and the entities ringing alarm bells. According to a report in the Wall St. Journal, the service—which promises to offer feeds from ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SECN, ACCN, ESPNEWS, ABC, FOX, FS1, FS2, BTN, TNT, TBS and truTV—could cost up to $50 per month.

A skeptic might see recent “what-me-worry?” sports-related stances taken by big station groups like Nexstar, Gray, Tegna, Sinclair and E.W. Scripps as posturing meant to allay Wall Street concerns. After all, there’s plenty of fuel for apprehension in the raw statistics surrounding the surge in sports streaming.

Unlevel Playing Field
In the U.S., 80% of sports fans, including 76% who watch NFL games and 89% of the soccer fan base, sometimes or regularly view the action online, according to Nielsen Fan Insights. As for sports rights revenues flowing to sports producers from streamers, research by Ampere Analysis found the global total jumped 64% to hit $8.5 billion in 2023, representing 21% of all sports rights revenues compared to 13% the year before.

Nonetheless, there’s a widening gap between station groups and Tier 1 multichannel video  programming distributors (MVPDs) who can turn developments to their advantage and other station owners and smaller pay-TV systems who feel they’re trapped on an unlevel playing field. It makes for a cacophony of messages hitting regulators and investors at a moment when everyone is looking for a more coherent, predictable business environment to work and invest in.

“If you could figure out whether there’s one unified voice from either the broadcast side or the cable side, I’d love to read your article,” says Grant Spellmeyer, president of ACA Connects, the lobbying organization representing smaller cable companies. “It is fractured all over the place.”

Brian Lawlor, president of Scripps Sports, offers several reasons for his company’s upbeat perspective on the role sports will continue to play in drawing audiences not only to its stations but, in some respects, to most other local broadcasters as well. “Even though some stuff has moved to streaming, most premier sports remain on linear television,” Lawlor says.

Streaming may bring some additional revenue to rights owners, but discussions with teams and leagues reveal “they’re all concerned about reach and their ability to put games in front of fans,” Lawlor adds. “At the end of the day, local broadcast continues to reach 100% of households.”

Indeed, as Lawlor and other station group executives note, free over-the-air exposure has become even more important to sports producers in light of the reversal in regional sports network (RSN) fortunes, including most prominently those of Diamond Sports Group, which is pursuing a Chapter 11 restructuring deal that would give Amazon Prime streaming rights to its sports partners’ games. “A decade ago, a lot of us had partnerships with RSNs reaching 80 percent of their markets, and now it’s down to just 35 or 40 percent,” Lawlor says.

Scripps, like other station groups, is capitalizing on sports teams’ desires to maintain broad local coverage, in this case with new deals involving the NHL’s Las Vegas Golden Knights and Phoenix Coyotes. Other recent high-profile local station sports partnerships include Tegna’s with the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and Milwaukee Bucks, and Gray Television’s with that league’s Phoenix Suns, Atlanta Hawks, and New Orleans Pelicans.

Market Overreaction?
Along with citing such deals to quell Wall Street anxieties, some station group executives have been addressing what Nexstar President/CEO Mike Biard recently referred to as “a significant misinterpretation in market overreaction” to the proposed JV streaming service.

During the company’s Q4 2023 report to investors in late February, Biard said, “We have confirmation that it will function in the same manner as other vMVPDs that distribute over Fox and ABC affiliated stations,” meaning he expects the new service to join other online providers of MVPD-like lineups in payment of what amounts to retransmission consent fees.

Interestingly, the question of legally mandating retransmission payments from “virtual” MVPDs (i.e., YouTube TV, Hulu Live+, Sling TV), remains outstanding in an unresolved FCC notice of proposed rulemaking first issued in 2014, which the NAB has been pressing the commission to address since late last year. vMVPDs’ willingness to pay voluntarily while joining forces with the big four broadcast networks to oppose FCC action serves as another demonstration of market clout wielded by some station groups.

During their own Q4 conferences, Sinclair President/CEO Christopher Ripley and Scripps President/CEO Adam Symson agreed with Biard that the sports JV doesn’t look so bad, assuming it survives to generate payments to stations affiliated with broadcast networks carrying sports targeted by the JV. But as Ripley sees it, that’s a “big if.”

Citing missing Olympics and incomplete NFL and March Madness coverage, he said, “If this is all about attracting the sports fanatic, it’s hard to say it’s a slam dunk.” Instead, the JV “will be yet another virtual MVPD in an already crowded and somewhat established marketplace…competing with and likely cannibalizing other streaming products from the very same companies that make up the partnership.”

Such sanguinity is a far cry from the responses emanating from other sources. Along with crying foul over what they see as the JV’s antitrust implications, they assert high-profile exclusive pro sports deals like those cut by Amazon, Apple, and Comcast’s Peacock service are the tip of an unchecked spear coming right at them.

Initial Opposition
Opinions vary as to which business model constitutes the larger threat.

Unlike the big exclusive streaming deals, “Spulu’s” plans face court and Justice Department scrutiny. Coming to light in mid-February were the antitrust suit filed in New York by sports streamer FuboTV and an as-yet-unconfirmed investigation Bloomberg reported was getting underway at the DOJ.

ACA Connects’ Spellmeyer echoes widely held sentiments expressed by skeptics. Looking at what little is known about the partners’ plans as a “continuing deterioration of the linear programming model,” Spellmeyer says the JV is especially notable as a harbinger of what could be in store.

“This is a bigger deal than the movement of one baseball playoff game to Peacock or even moving Thursday Night NFL games to Amazon,” Spellmeyer says. The JV is doing this “to further exploit their market power and put it together collectively and leverage it.”

But a source voicing the concerns of a large station group owner says the amounts big streamers are willing to pay for sports rights represent an even bigger anticompetitive threat to broadcasters, MVPDs and even Silicon Valley vMVPDs.

“They are all in the same sinking boat with the great white Amazon shark circling,” the person said. “These big tech streamers are willing to spend stupid amounts of money to take rights away from the broadcast networks and broadcast stations—when it comes to sports—are at the mercy of the networks.”

In addition to the courts, observers are also keeping an eye on Congress, which has cast a skeptical eye on sports streaming, and in particular, garnering swift criticism from politicians when NBC broadcast an NFL playoff game exclusively on Peacock in January.

“I think our job here is to protect the American consumer to ensure that they’re able to easily access the content that they pay for,” said Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), during a Congressional hearing on the subject in February. Referring to professional sports and media (with no pun intended), she said “I just think it’s a racket. It’s a racket.” 

SIDEBAR:

NextGen TV Could Bring Sports Coverage ‘On Par’ With Streamers
Beyond the debate over the immediate impact of sports streaming there’s another story to be told that’s opening a new chapter on broadcast stations’ plays in sports programming. With ATSC 3.0 (aka NextGen TV), leaping to 75% market coverage over the past year on a trajectory to near blanket coverage by year’s end, NextGen TV will give stations an opportunity to greatly enhance sports viewing experiences as well as to bring more local sports coverage to their audiences.

As explained by Anne Schelle, managing director of the Pearl TV consortium of eight large station groups operating 820 TV stations nationwide, Pearl TV affiliated stations and others rolling out NextGen TV services are putting a lot of stock in the appeal of what they can do with sports programming. Indeed, she notes, sports broadcasting is a big focus of the ATSC 3.0 exhibit at this month’s NAB Show.

One big aspect to what can be done with NextGen TV has to do with enabling 4K UHD with HDR when games are broadcast in 4K along with HDR enhancements to HD when technology supporting upscaling to HDR from SDR is in play. With 20 million households in reach of HDR-enabled signals at the start of the year, the goal is to hit 50 million this spring, 80 million by the Summer Olympics, “and then it becomes pretty ubiquitous by year’s end,” Schelle says.

Another sports-related advancement involves setting up a “virtual TV station” to stream the contents of a sports-rich station not equipped for ATSC 3.0 broadcasts. Schelle notes this allows these stations to deliver sports programming to connected TVs and personal devices with the full benefits of NextGen TV sports viewing experiences.

ATSC 3.0 support for HTML5 overlays that can be synched for display on OTA channels delivered to connected TVs adds still another dimension to sports viewing experience. Schelle says Pearl TV has partnered with Run3TV to use its platform as an abstraction layer that allows Pearl members’ HTML5 NextGen TV apps to run on all the operating systems used by their OEM partners.

“NextGen TV brings broadcasters on par with innovations we see on streaming services,” Schelle adds. She notes the ATSC 3.0 display at this month’s NAB Show includes demonstrations of joint efforts of Run3TV and Play Anywhere, a rights clearinghouse that facilitates interactive apps for advertising, betting, e-commerce and much else by ensuring all rights holders tied to a given app get the share due them from revenues generated by the app.

Critically, the HTML5 feed can also be used to bring complete coverage of sports events to CTV screens. “It allows broadcasters to do pop-up channels covering lots of things they couldn’t do on air in the past,” Schelle says. Pop-up tie-ins with stations’ EPGs can expose options to viewing local college and high school sports, enabling an unprecedented level of localized TV engagement. “There’s so much power in local sports coverage,” she notes.

Mentioning efforts along these lines by Pearl TV members’ Gray Television and Scripps, Schelle adds, “They’re recognizing it. Their ratings are super high with local audiences that have an affinity for these teams. This is helping them to pull in ‘Z-generation’ viewers.”

Tablo TV, one of the few DVRs available in the U.S. market for over-the-air TV broadcasts, has announced its latest version, which, despite what many had hoped, does not include support for ATSC 3.0 (aka NextGen TV).

In 2022, Tablo TV’s parent company, Nuvyyo launched the Tablo ATSC 3.0 QUAD HDMI DVR for NextGenTV, shortly before it was acquired by station group E W Scripps. The product, however, never made it to the market due to issues over digital rights management, according to the company.

“When we announced the Tablo ATSC 3.0 QUAD OTA DVR in January of this year, we felt confident that our stated spring 2022 delivery date was achievable,” the company said in December. “However, since that time, broadcast station ownership groups have indicated their intent to encrypt ATSC 3.0 signals using Digital Rights Management (DRM).

"To ensure that the Tablo ATSC 3.0 QUAD OTA DVR can display and record ATSC 3.0 content, even when broadcast signals are encrypted, we need to complete the development and certification of DRM software for the device," the company added. “DRM decryption keys MUST be installed on the Tablo during manufacturing and cannot be added via later firmware updates. Because of this, manufacturing has been delayed while we confirm the certification requirements, add DRM capabilities to the product, and obtain certification from the ATSC 3.0 Security Authority (A3SA).”

Announcing the latest version this week, It looks like consumers will have to wait a bit longer for a 3.0-compatible Tablo TV, according to a spokesman. 

"The fourth-generation Tablo device is optimized for the ATSC 1.0 broadcast standard. We're excited about forthcoming Tablo devices that will take advantage of the 3.0 standard,” said Bo Schuerman, Scripps vice president of enterprise strategy. “We are currently working with the ATSC 3.0 groups to ensure Tablo (and other recording devices) will be compliant and work with the new content protection standards that are part of ATSC 3.0."

Regarding the ATSC 3.0 QUAD HDMI DVR, the company said that although there is no estimated time when the device will be available, “significant progress is being made.”

The fourth generation, announced this week, features a more compact design, dual ATSC 1.0 tuners and 50 hours of HD storage and the ability to record FAST channels.  It's priced at $99.95 with no subscriptions or contracts and is avaiable at tablotv.com and bestbuy.com. The Tablo Total System, which includes a 35-mile indoor TV antenna, is on sale for $109.95 (MSRP $129.95) . 

Scripps acquired Canada-based consumer technology manufacturer Nuvyyo, Inc. in 2022 for $14 million. Nuvyyo has successfully developed and sold antenna TV DVRs under the Tablo brand for nine years.

The arrival of ATSC 3.0/NextGen TV—and its ability to combine broadcast with IP—has the potential to transform TV commercials from one-way mass-market blasts to two-way personalized interactive experiences. 

“ATSC 3.0 provides OTA broadcasters the same level of interactivity that you’re seeing with digital content on the web today,” said Anne Schelle, managing director of the Pearl TV broadcaster consortium. “Everything that advertisers can do with digital online, they can now do over the air using ATSC 3.0.”

Dynamic Ad Insertion
The biggest advantage of ATSC 3.0-based TV advertising is its ability to provide sponsors with all of the features offered by online interactive advertising. This advance finally releases broadcast television from the bonds of 20th century one-way TV advertising, which is about as up-to-date as VCRs. 

“Online, there's the ability to enable dynamic ad insertion plus things like overlays and interactive application ads where viewers are actually engaging with advertisements,” said Schelle. “When TV stations broadcast in ATSC 3.0 to ATSC 3.0-enabled TV sets connected to the web, all of this interactivity becomes available over the air for live linear broadcasts.”

Ad Insertion Platform Sàrl is a Swiss technology company with 15 years experience in the ad insertion business, and one that is harnessing the advertising possibilities offered by ATSC 3.0 through its ‘Ad Break Composer’ platform.

“This new standard promises more dynamic and interactive experiences for viewers, from higher resolution content and audio quality to personalized ad delivery tailored specifically for each individual viewer,” said Laurent Potesta, CEO and Founder of Ad Insertion Platform Sàrl. “Design-wise, it will enable dynamic ad insertion capabilities as well as the ability to customize ads based on user data such as location or demographics."

An advantage for both broadcaster and viewer is the ability for ATSC 3.0 to reach viewers who are most likely to be receptive to it. With ATSC 3.0, “each viewer gets a targeted ad break for their specific targeting profile,” explained Ahmed Swidan, director of Personalized TV for Ateme. Ateme offers an ATSC 3.0 advertising solution that handles stream signaling from the transcoding side up to fetching, transcoding and stitching ads in ATSC 3.0 live streams. “This increases the monetization potential for the station owners as they are able to split their inventory effectively,” Swidan added.

Meanwhile, ATSC 3.0 retains the mass market reach of 20th century television that the web with its one-to-one service model cannot match. The result: “NextGen TV provides advertisers the same kind of reach they are accustomed to with local broadcasting, while layering-in addressability,” said Kerry G. Oslund, vice president of Strategy and Business Development, for station group The E.W. Scripps Company.

Scripps is already adding ‘Start Over’ and ‘Pause Ads’ functions to some of its programs in support of ATSC 3.0. For example, “a viewer who gets home at 6:10 pm and wants to watch the entire 6 p.m. local news will be able to ‘start over’ after watching a very short sponsorship message,” said Oslund. Display ads will also occur whenever a viewer pauses their video feed under Scripps’ ‘Pause Ads’ feature. As well, “in one market, we have connected programmatic adverts into the VOD content we provide via a broadcast application.”

All told, “ATSC 3.0 will allow station owners to harness the revenue potential of turning their inventory from a linear advertising model to full addressability,” observed Swidan.”This will allow them to fit more campaigns in their inventory, which will in turn increase their revenue.”

In addition to providing TV advertisers with interactivity, addressability, and personalization of their OTA-delivered ads, ATSC 3.0 gives them a superior delivery medium that supports 4K video at up to 120 fps, along with High Dynamic Range (HDR) pictures and superior sound.

“Obviously the actual video content—including the story that it tells—is the key to an effective ad,” said Guy Hadland, CTO of UniSoft Corp. [UniSoft’s A344 interactive content environment can replace content at the receiver level, while allowing broadcasters to gather data on viewer habits and measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns.] 

It’s the Data
But interactive ads offer many other pluses to broadcasters, Hadland added, including allowing viewers to request further product information via their smartphones, find local dealers/stores related to advertised products in their areas, and even take part in political polls during elections.

The personalized addressability of ATSC 3.0 can also provide accurate real-time information about viewers’ preferences based on their actual content choices and duration of viewing times. Compared to previous ways of measuring local audiences that relied on representative sampling, “NextGen TV will bring stability to the local measurement marketplace,” said Schelle. ”Given that there’s huge value in local TV viewership, I think this will increase the value of local advertising overall.”

Potesta says 3.0 will make broadcasters far more competitive when it comes to providing the data ad companies are used to.

With ATSC 3.0 “advertisers now have access to a wealth of data about viewers’ preferences which they can use to create highly targeted campaigns, as well as dynamic ad insertion technology that enables them to deliver different ads in real-time depending on individual viewer behavior or content being viewed at any given moment,” he explained. 

“With this increased level of customization available through ATSC 3.0, advertisers are able to create far more effective campaigns than ever before—ultimately resulting in better ROI for their business investments in television advertising overall.”

CINCINNATI—Dean Littleton, vice president and general manager at Denver7 KMGH-TV since 2017, has been appointed senior vice president of local media for The E.W. Scripps Company, one of several appointments announced as part of the organization’s restructuring.

Littleton will be responsible for directing the operations of Scripps’ local stations. Prior to joining Scripps to run KMGH, he was general manager at WATE-TV in Knoxville (2013-2017) and general sales manager at WVLT-TV in Knoxville (2008-2013), KUSA-TV in Denver (2007-2008) and WBIR-TV in Knoxville (2000-2007). He started his career as a news photographer/editor at WBIR.

“Dean has shown tremendous leadership in Denver,” said Lisa Knutson, chief operating officer. “He is committed to great journalism, and he has a vision for increasing engagement and growing trust with our communities.”

Knutson also announced the following:

• Frank Friedman, senior vice president of data, insights and research, will oversee data strategy, analytics and business insights. Jon Marks is vice president and chief research officer.
• Mark Gray, senior vice president of network and station operations, will be responsible for network and technical infrastructure that supports local and networks operations. Ray Thurber is vice president and chief engineer and innovation officer.
• Joe Naylor, senior vice president of streaming and digital platforms, will oversee development of the company’s consumer streaming and digital strategy for all local and network brands.
• Michael O’Brian, senior vice president and chief distribution officer, will oversee the team responsible for managing distribution across numerous platforms, including cable, satellite and virtual carriers as well as multicast spectrum.

DENVER—The International Broadcaster Coalition Against Piracy (IBCAP) today announced its newest member, The E.W. Scripps Company. The addition of Scripps marks IBCAP's initial expansion into piracy protection for U.S. television channels, including popular channels such as Ion, Bounce and CourtTV.

"With this addition, IBCAP is now offering anti-piracy protection services to U.S. channels, beginning with the full suite of Scripps channels," said Chris Kuelling, executive director of IBCAP. "Our lab monitors hundreds of services offered through set-top boxes for existing IBCAP members and increasingly detects piracy of U.S. channels on those services. We have succeeded in disrupting or entirely removing other IBCAP member content from those services, and we are pleased to now expand that protection to Scripps channels."

"By joining IBCAP, we are enhancing our content protection strategy by leveraging IBCAP's lab and know-how to shut down unauthorized providers of our content," said Dave Giles, senior vice president and deputy general counsel for Scripps. "We have a robust and effective anti-piracy strategy already in place, but by becoming part of the IBCAP alliance, we look forward to adding additional levels of content protection, particularly for the multicultural-focused pirate services that are already part of IBCAP's enforcement efforts."

Scripps channels under IBCAP's protection include Bounce, Bounce XL, CourtTV, Defy, Grit, Grit Xtra, Ion, Ion Mystery, Ion Plus, Laff, Newsy and True Real.

International Broadcaster Coalition Against Piracy, Inc. (IBCAP) is a coalition of leading international and U.S. content owners, broadcasters and distributors representing more than 170 television channels from the U.S. and around the world. As the largest anti-piracy organization focused on illicit services offering multicultural content, the non-profit organization proactively monitors and identifies unauthorized video services, collects evidence and assists with legal actions and criminal investigations against organizations and individuals engaging in pirate activities. 

IBCAP coordinates with government agencies and law enforcement both in the U.S. and abroad, reports suspected infringers to the appropriate authorities, initiates investigations and promotes the prosecution of persons or companies who participate in the illegal distribution of its members' video content.

CINCINNATI—E.W. Scripps Company has announced that it is rebranding its “Newsy” free 24/7 OTA news channel to “Scripps News,” launching Jan. 1, 2023.

Newsy, founded in 2008 as a provider of news content to online services, was acquired by The E.W. Scripps Company in 2014. A year ago—Oct. 1, 2021—it was launched as a free over-the-air network, available with a digital antenna, as well as on streaming platforms.

In announcing the change, Scripps said “the combined operation will better and more efficiently serve national audiences and Scripps local stations.” Like Newsy, the new channel will remain the country’s only free 24/7 TV news service, available over-the-air, Scripps said. As of November 2021, Scripps claimed nearly 84% of U.S. households were within Newsy’s signal.

“Newsy, the Washington Bureau and our Local Media national news desk have produced impactful journalism, from documentaries and specials to investigative enterprise and day-to-day reporting,” O’Brian said. “We will take the best practices and grow our audience through consistently unique and meaningful news coverage.” 

Kate O’Brian will assume the title of executive vice president, Scripps News division, and report to Adam Symson, Scripps president and CEO. She also will continue to oversee Court TV. O’Brian has served as head of news in the Scripps Networks division since April 2021 and was previously senior vice president at ABC News and president of Al Jazeera America.

“In the creation of Scripps News, we are leveraging the company’s collective resources and building upon the equity of the Scripps name and stellar reputation for journalism,” Symson said. “The American people need greater access to free, quality local and national journalism produced by a company committed to fact-based news and information. Since the company’s inception more than 140 years ago, we have served audiences with the highest ethics and standards of independent journalism. The rebrand, merger of resources and reorganization reflects our company’s longstanding commitment and belief that journalism is central to our mission.”

Scripps News journalists will operate out of headquarters in Atlanta, with bureaus in Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Missoula, Nashville, New York, Phoenix, Seattle, Tampa and Tulsa. The Scripps News Washington Bureau will continue to cover the capital and produce investigative and enterprise stories for all Scripps outlets. Scripps News also will draw upon reporting from Scripps local newsrooms.

In the television business all the buzz today is around OTT and streaming, but one major station group has decided to bring old technology to the forefront in a bid to increase awareness of free over-the-air TV. 

EW Scripps has launched TheFreeTVProject.org, a website that promotes antenna TV, providing tips and information on what are the best types of TV antennas, available programming and even a chatbot. 

On a page titled “An antenna is the key to Free TV!” visitors can enter their zip code to find available free over the air channels in their area, (CTA has offered a similar service that helps consumers pick the best type of antenna on antennaweb.org for years).

Based in Cincinnati, Scripps owns 61 TV stations and has been active in the rollout of ATSC 3.0 (aka NextGen TV), which the website also promotes. It also has a robust “diginet” (DTV auxiliary channels) portfolio, as well as its “Newsy”  24 hour news channel. The station group is spending $20 million on its campaign which also includes 30 second spots on its O&O as well as promotions on social media and streaming services. 

Although many station groups are reluctant to promote free over-the-air TV because of the lucrative retrans fees they receive from pay-TV, Scripps President Adam Symson thinks that the current TV environment, with the increasing rate of cord-cutting is putting consumers in charge and that broadcasters need to keep customers informed of their choices. 

“Many companies are concerned about talking about broadcast too much for fear of it negatively impacting the pay TV eco-system,” Symson was quoted in the Los Angeles Times. “But I believe the consumer is in control at this point and what we have to do is insure the relevance of our product and our reach on into the future.”

Los Angeles Times has the rest of the story. 

CINCINNATI—The board of directors of The E.W. Scripps Company has approved a new contract for Scripps President and CEO Adam P. Symson that runs through Dec. 31, 2027.

The new agreement replaces a three-year contract that began Jan. 1, 2020.

Symson assumed the president and CEO role in August 2017. Since that time, he has engineered the acquisition of ION Media and the creation of a new operating division made up of nine national broadcast networks. He sold the radio station group as well as the Stitcher and Triton businesses and launched company initiatives to expand its NextGen TV/ATSC 3.0 opportunity, its connected television distribution and the number of U.S. TV households using digital antennas.

“Adam’s vision and leadership have continually delivered shareholder value through forward-looking strategies that have transformed the company’s financial profile and positioned it for further growth and success,” said Kim Williams, chair of the board. “He is widely respected nationally as an accomplished media executive and a proponent of the First Amendment protections of free press and free speech, and he has fostered a mission-based, performance-focused and inclusive workplace culture. We appreciate Adam’s leadership, and we are pleased to be extending his tenure leading the company.”

Symson pocketed $7.353 million in total compensation for 2021.

CINCINNATI—Court is in session again, Court TV that is. After initially being taken off the air in 2008, Katz Networks, part of the E.W. Scripps Company, officially relaunched the 24/7 court coverage network on Wednesday, May 8.

During Court TV’s initial run it covered high-profile court cases to air, including the trials of O.J. Simpson, the Menendez brothers and Casey Anthony. In its new iteration, Court TV will provide live, gavel-to-gavel coverage, in-depth legal reporting and expert analysis of important and compelling trials across the county. Katz Networks has also acquired the complete library of the original Court TV’s library.

Katz has made agreements with local TV station group owners that will make the network available to more than 50% of U.S. television households through over-the-air broadcast; it will also be available to 25% of U.S. cable homes. Tribune will offer Court TV to 22 of its markets; E.W. Scripps will provide it in eight markets; Entravision Communications will have it in 10 markets; Univision will provide it in three markets; and Citadel Communications will air Court TV in Providence, R.I.

CINCINNATI –Cordillera Communications has announced the sale of 15 of 16 of its TV stations to the E.W. Scripps Company and the 16th Tucson station to Quincy Media, Inc. The deal marks the exit of the St. Paul, Minn.-based station group–which is owned by Charleston, S.C. company Evening Post Industries–from the broadcasting business. Cordillera had announced in August that it had planned to sell its stations. The deal, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2019 is valued at $521, and subject to federal regulatory approvals.

The acquisitions in 10 markets grows the Scripps local television station footprint to 51 stations in 36 markets with a reach of nearly 21 percent of U.S. TV households. Scripps is not buying Cordillera’s remaining station–NBC affiliate KVOA-TV in Tucson, Ariz.– because Scripps already operates a duopoly in that market. There are no other overlapping markets.

All but one of the acquired stations rank No. 1 in their markets. It also adds depth to its local media footprint through the addition of three duopolies-–in Helena and Great Falls, Montana, and Corpus Christi, Texas, according to Scripps.

The stations also diversify Scripps’ affiliate relationships, adding more NBC and CBS stations to Scripps’ strong ABC roster.

“Through this transaction, Scripps will operate the No. 1-rated TV stations in a third of its markets, enhancing the durability of our portfolio,” said Brian Lawlor, president of the Local Media division of Scripps. “The acquisition also allows us to go deeper in new markets with the addition of three new duopolies, including two with Big Four combinations.”

After the acquisition, Scripps will have the No. 1 Nielsen-rated TV stations in 11 of its 36 markets with 18 ABC stations, 11 NBC stations, seven CBS stations and two Fox stations. Scripps will operate seven duopolies.

The stations Scripps is acquiring are:

• WLEX, the NBC affiliate in Lexington, Kentucky
• KOAA, the NBC affiliate in Colorado Springs, Colorado
• KATC, the ABC affiliate in Lafayette, Louisiana
• KSBY, the NBC affiliate in Santa Barbara-San Luis Obispo, California
• KRIS, the NBC affiliate, and KAJA, a Telemundo affiliate, in Corpus Christi, Texas
• KPAX and KAJJ, a CBS affiliate in Missoula, Montana
• KTVQ, a CBS affiliate in Billings, Montana
• KXLF/KBZK, the CBS affiliate in Butte-Bozeman, Montana
• KRTV, the CBS affiliate, and KTGF, the NBC affiliate, in Great Falls, Montana
• KTVH, the NBC affiliate, and KXLH, the CBS affiliate, in Helena, Montana

The 10 Cordillera markets have about 700 employees.

“Our stations are as strong as they’ve been across any point in our 32-year history,” said Terry Hurley, president of Cordillera. “We’ve had a good run, and we’re proud of how our stations have excelled over the years. We’re also heartened to know they’ll continue to be in exceptional hands.”

The company had indicated that it was exiting the broadcast business following the spectrum auctions in 2017, which it said “generated significant interest from established parties throughout the country”

“The two buyers represent the best possible scenario: They are poised to grow the stations and empower them to compete in this changing media landscape, and, more importantly, they will provide a great home and opportunities for the dedicated employees of Cordillera,” Hurley said.

Methuselah Advisors acted as financial advisor.