CINCINNATI—The E.W. Scripps Company has promoted Dean Littleton to president of media, combining leadership of the company’s enterprise television and broadcast operations under Littleton in a newly created role for the company.

In the new post, Littleton will oversee Scripps’ complete television business: its local media portfolio of approximately 60 TV stations, its national Scripps Networks division, which includes ION and the company’s portfolio of multicast and digital networks and Scripps News, the company’s 24/7 national streaming news service.

Littleton previously served as executive vice president of media broadcast operations and senior vice president of local media after joining Scripps in 2017 as general manager of KMGH Denver7 and KCDO The Spot – Scripps’ ABC affiliate and independent TV stations in Denver.

“Dean has been instrumental in driving operational excellence across our local media platform while creating a more durable and sustainable business model for local journalism,” said Scripps President and CEO Adam Symson. “As Scripps executes its transformation plan, Dean is the right mission-focused leader to ensure our media businesses operate with the speed, creativity and growth mindset that will create lasting value for the audiences, advertisers, employees and shareholders we serve.”

Before joining Scripps, Littleton held leadership roles at local television stations in Knoxville and Denver, including general manager at WATE-TV and general sales manager positions at WVLT-TV, KUSA-TV and WBIR-TV. He began his career as a news photographer and editor.

“Scripps has built one of the most powerful video distribution platforms in the country, and we have a strong opportunity to steer the evolution of video-led media by staying focused on what matters most – connecting communities across the country with essential news, weather, sports and entertainment from brands they trust,” said Littleton. “I’m honored to lead our talented teams who are dedicated to our mission of creating connection for audiences across every platform, and I’m committed to building on the strong foundation we’ve established to drive growth and innovation across our local and national brands.”

Littleton serves as immediate past chair of the ABC Affiliate Board of Governors and the Colorado Broadcasters Association. He is a graduate of the University of Tennessee. He will be based in Cincinnati.

WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission’s Media Bureau, has approved the sale of WTVQ-DT, in Lexington, Kentucky from WTVQTV, LLC, an wholly-owned subsidiary of Morris Network, Inc. to Scripps.

The approval of the license transfer follows a March announcement by Scripps that it would pay $15.8 million for the ABC affiliate. The acquisition of WTVQ creates a duopoly with Scripps’ NBC affiliate, WLEX in Lexington, Kentucky.

The July 20 Order, denied a petition by DirecTV. It opposed the license transfer by arguing the combination would create “direct economic harm” by forcing it to pay higher prices for programming.

“[W]e find that the proposed transaction fully complies with the Commission’s rules, including the post-Zimmer Radio Local Television Ownership Rule, and that there are no issues or potential public interest harms identified in the record that would require further consideration,” the FCC concluded. “Notably, while the Commission will consider transaction-specific objections to otherwise rule-compliant transactions, we find that DIRECTV has failed to advance any such objections. Accordingly, we conclude that grant of the Application will result in public interest benefits and serve the public interest, convenience, and necessity.”

The full Order is available here.

With the end of the World Cup approaching and the start of football season coming up in August, DirecTV and E.W. Scripps have announced a new multi-year agreement that will return 54 local broadcast stations owned and operated by the station group to DirecTV’s streaming, satellite, and U-verse customers.

The agreement ends a five-week blackout affecting millions of customers across 36 Nielsen DMAs, including Baltimore, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Denver, Detroit, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Milwaukee, Nashville, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Tampa-St. Petersburg, and others.

“These agreements recognize the enduring value of local television stations as essential infrastructure for American communities,” said Adam Symson, Scripps’ president and CEO. “Our stations save lives with severe weather alerts, provide critical emergency information during natural disasters, deliver local news that informs and holds power in check, and unite communities through live sports that no other platform can replicate."

“Fair compensation from distribution partners ensures we can sustain these essential public services for millions of Americans who depend on us for accessible, trusted connection to what matters most in their daily lives," he added.

While the agreement ends the dispute, DirecTV continued to criticize the process of negotiating new retransmission consent agreements with station groups.

“[W]e are frustrated that broadcasters use blackouts as a tool to force us to accept unwarranted rate hikes that consistently exceed normal, inflationary increases, and by a lot,” said Rob Thun, chief content officer at DirecTV. “At a time when affordability matters more than ever, families are too often asked to pay more while receiving less…[A]s ownership becomes concentrated among a handful of ever-larger broadcasters gaining stations across new and within their existing markets, those expanded stations become increasingly powerful and further unbalanced negotiating tools. The more markets and major network affiliations a broadcaster controls, the greater its ability to withhold programming from the very communities it is meant to serve.”

“Consumers should never lose access to essential local television because of a carriage dispute,” he added. “It's time to modernize the system so it rewards service to local communities—and not consolidated market power—by returning to the original purpose of broadcasting of putting viewers’ interests first.”

Separately, DirecTV is part of an antitrust lawsuit in California seeking to block the Nexstar/Tegna merger that would further consolidate the industry.

Broadcasters have long argued that consolidation is necessary to help them compete with big tech companies who already dominate the ad and streaming businesses.

WASHINGTON—The NCTA has filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission opposing E.W. Scripps acquisition of TV stations from INYO that argue the agency lacks the authority to waive ownership caps on broadcast station groups.

DirecTV has also filed comments opposing the deal.

Earlier this year, 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 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 has been more open to altering or eliminating ownership caps,

The proposed acquisition would, if approved by the agency, create a combined station group covering 40.29% of the country or 1.29 percentage points more than the current ownership cap of 39%. Under FCC Chair Brendan Carr the agency has asserted its authority to waive the ownership caps if they are in the public interest.

Recently, the Media Bureau did waive ownership rules in its approval of the Nexstar/Tegna merger, which would create a combined group covering 54.5% of the U.S. population or 15.5 percentage points over the cap. That decision is now being litigated in Federal courts in California and Washington D.C.

In its filing, the cable-backed NCTA argued that Congress did not give the FCC authority to waive the caps and that even if it did, the agency’s Media Bureau did not have the power to do so on "delegated authority”

“Accordingly, the Commission itself should resolve any `questions regarding the Commission’s authority in this area.’” the group argued. “And, as discussed above, that resolution should make clear that the Commission lacks authority to repeal or modify the National Cap.”

The full filing is available here.

CINCINNATI—The E.W. Scripps Company is kicking off extensive coverage leading up to America’s 250^th birthday on July 4.

Scripps’ local and national media platforms will bring Americans together around the stories, people and places that define the nation’s past and shape its future.

“America’s 250th anniversary is an opportunity to connect neighbors, share stories that inspire pride in our country and reaffirm the freedoms that make those stories possible,” said Dean Littleton, Scripps executive vice president of media broadcast operations. “Scripps has been that connection point since 1878. Our coverage will not only mark the milestone in our nation’s history but also reflect the very mission on which we were founded: to give light and the people will find their own way.”

Anchored by Scripps News special events anchor Alisyn Camerota, Scripps News will produce a 60-minute special to air on July 4, which will celebrate the people that embody the spirit of America. The program will combine local reporting with in-depth national storytelling and will be available across all Scripps local stations and Scripps News Group streaming platforms.

During the special, Scripps News Group is partnering with the Scripps Howard Fund to surprise five nonprofit organizations with a total of $75,000 in grants to further their mission and impact. From supporting children and families and fighting hunger, to creating jobs for people with special needs and providing service dogs to veterans, five organizations will each receive $15,000.

“These organizations are doing extraordinary work to uplift their communities,” said Meredith Delaney, president and CEO of the Scripps Howard Fund. “Behind every neighborhood is a network of nonprofit organizations that educate, heal and connect people. Leveraging the power of Scripps’ nationwide footprint, we’re able to highlight their remarkable work to a national audience. By sharing their stories broadly, we aim to spark compassion, service and generosity that turns community needs into community solutions all across America.”

Scripps News Group coverage July 4 includes:

• 3 p.m. EDT: “JFK: Fact & Fable.”
• 4 p.m. EDT: “250: Celebrating America.”
• 5 p.m. EDT: “Happy Birthday, USA!”
• 6 p.m.-midnight: “4^th of July –Live from the Capitol.”

Throughout the summer, local Scripps TV stations will bring viewers original stories from the communities they serve, told by journalists who know those neighborhoods best. Coverage will capture local traditions, events and perspectives – from small-town parades and concerts to historical reenactments and civic ceremonies – highlighting how America 250 celebrations are bringing people together and showcasing the resilience and innovation at the heart of the American experience.

Scripps will also air a series of America 250 vignettes on its local stations and on Scripps News. These short features will honor everyday heroes, such as nurses, teachers and firefighters, alongside moments of innovation and cultural significance that embody the American spirit.

The station group has launched a dedicated “America 250” digital hub on all Scripps local station websites and ScrippsNews.com, offering event information, coverage highlights and stories from communities across the country.

Scripps’ “America 250” coverage is available online.

Just in time for the start of this week’s NHL Stanley Cup Finals and NBA Finals, 54 E.W. Scripps-owned stations have gone dark on DirecTV streaming, satellite and U-verse TV pay TV platforms.

The stations—17 of which are ABC affiliates airing the NHL and NBA finals games—went dark at 7 p.m. ET on Sunday (May 31) after Scripps and DirecTV failed to agree to a new retransmission consent agreement.

“Scripps is demanding the highest rates DirecTV has ever received from a station group, which would continue to dramatically raise costs for consumers and businesses already struggling with affordability,“ the pay TV provider said in a statement. “After DirecTV declined those demands and sought a more reasonable agreement, Scripps chose to remove its stations from viewers in several major markets nationwide.”

In a statement to TV Tech, Scripps said it "has been engaging in good-faith negotiations with DirecTV to establish an equitable agreement that serves both companies and, most importantly, consumers.“

“Regrettably, DirecTV has elected to remove Scripps local stations from their lineup, employing the same heavy-handed tactics that have become synonymous with pay-TV operators who hurt their own subscribers by using them as bargaining chips in contractual disputes,“ the broadcaster said. “By contrast, Scripps stations have gone dark only twice since we began broadcasting in the 1940s."

Scripps also stressed that viewers can still watch their content using an antenna or on other pay TV services like YouTube TV and Fubo.

"Scripps remains committed to reaching a fair resolution that restores our local stations to DirecTV’s paying subscribers," the station group said. "At stake is our viewers’ fundamental access to trusted local journalism, critical weather alerts, emergency information and live sports programming that strengthens community bonds – all essential public interest content in which Scripps invests substantially every day."

DirecTV said that Scripps has suspended stations in cities including Baltimore, Boise, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Denver, Detroit, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Lexington, Miami, Milwaukee, Nashville, Omaha, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Tampa-St. Petersburg, and West Palm Beach, among others.

In response to the dispute, DirecTV also complained that “Scripps and its peers continue to remove content from American viewers in hopes of enriching their bottom lines. Scripps removed 40 of its stations from Comcast Xfinity customers in 19 of these same cities for more than a month, starting April 1.”

“We understand customers are frustrated by temporarily losing their usual access to Scripps stations and the local news, network programming, and live sports they provide,” said Rob Thun, chief content officer at DirecTV. “Unfortunately, Scripps is demanding the highest rates we have ever seen for programming that remains available for free over-the-air and through many station, network, and third-party streaming apps. We remain committed to protecting customers from indiscriminate and unnecessary cost increases for less popular programming while still working to restore the stations that many viewers rely on.”

WASHINGTON—DirecTV and broadband and cable associations from six states have filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission urging the agency to block E.W. Scripps proposed acquisition of INYO.

In February, Scripps announced that it was 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 filing argued “in re-acquiring these stations, Scripps will own television stations covering 40.29 percent of U.S. households (taking into account the UHF discount), thereby exceeding the FCC’s National Television Multiple Ownership Rule.”

Although the FCC has been increasingly willing to waive ownership caps, something that it did with the Nexstar/Tegna deal, the filing also argued that “the FCC lacks authority to waive the National Cap. The 2004 Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) enshrined a `39 percent national audience reach limitation’ into law by (1) directing the Commission to adopt the 39 percent limit; (2) excluding the 39 percent cap from the quadrennial review of broadcast ownership rules; (3) removing the Commission’s forbearance authority with respect to entities that exceed the 39-percent cap; and (4) requiring any entity exceeding that limit (except through population growth) to come into compliance in two years or less.”

“Petitioners recognize that the Media Bureau recently rejected these arguments in approving Nexstar’s acquisition of Tegna,” the filing noted. “But that decision was both erroneous on the merits and involved `novel questions of law, fact or policy that cannot be resolved under existing precedents and guidelines.’ Petitioners have sought full Commission review of that decision. Unless and until the full Commission (and reviewing courts) affirm the Media Bureau’s approach, Petitioners will continue to raise their concerns in appropriate contexts.”

The filing notes that if the deal is approved, the re-acquisition of these twenty-three stations, which are “primarily” ION affiliates, would give Scripps its “first station in nine local markets, create new duopolies in four local markets, and (assuming approval of a separate transaction) create new triopolies in eight local markets. Adding these stations to Scripps’ portfolio will also give the company a national audience reach of 40.29 percent when taking the UHF discount into account—thereby exceeding the National Cap.”

Those arguments have been consistently rejected by The FCC and broadcasters. In the last year, the FCC has argued that the ownership caps are in fact FCC rules, not a statutory requirement set by Congress and that the Media Bureau does have the authority to waive those rules.

The full filing is available here.

CINCINNATI—The E.W. Scripps Company and Gray Media have announced that they’ve completed local TV station swaps across five mid-sized and small markets.

In late April, the FCC approved the license transfers.

The agreement, which was originally announced in July 2025 means that:

• • Gray Media has acquired Scripps’ WSYM (Fox) in Lansing, Michigan, and KATC (ABC) in Lafayette, Louisiana.
• • Scripps has acquired Gray’s KKTV (CBS) in Colorado Springs, Colorado; KKCO (NBC) and KJCT-LP (ABC) in Grand Junction, Colorado; and KMVT (CBS) and KSVT-LD (Fox) in Twin Falls, Idaho.

The transaction expands Scripps’ presence in Colorado Springs and Twin Falls – markets where the company already operates trusted local stations – and establishes a new footprint in Grand Junction.

“Greater depth in these markets creates the economic durability to sustain our public service commitment: high quality local news, emergency alerts, weather coverage and local sports that keep people informed, engaged and connected to their communities,” said Adam Symson, Scripps’ president and CEO. “We see scale and localism as complementary, and strategic transactions like this help ensure our stations remain strong, trusted voices for the communities that depend on us.”

The swap involves an even exchange of comparable assets with no cash consideration exchanged between the companies.

DETROIT—The Detroit Pistons have announced a new local media television rights agreement with Scripps Sports beginning with the 2026‑27 NBA season. The deal returns Pistons basketball to local free, over‑the‑air television for the first time since 2005

Financial terms were not disclosed.

The agreement is part of an ongoing push by Scripps to expand its sports programming. Notably, the deal is Scripps’ eighth with a major professional league franchise and its first with an NBA team.

In addition to the Pistons, this lineup includes: WNBA (Las Vegas Aces), NHL (Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida Panthers, Vegas Golden Knights, Utah Mammoth, Nashville Predators) and NWSL (Denver Summit).

Under the agreement with the Pistons, WMYD TV20 Detroit, owned and operated by The E.W. Scripps Company, will become the official local broadcast home of the Detroit Pistons. TV20 Detroit will produce and air all locally available pre-season and regular season games.

Fans will be able to watch games for free via over‑the‑air television as well as through participating cable and satellite providers in Detroit, the Detroit metro area and the state of Michigan.

Scripps, which operates both TV20 Detroit and WXYZ (Detroit’s ABC affiliate), said it will pair WXYZ’s award-winning local news leadership with TV20 Detroit’s broadcast platform to deliver comprehensive Pistons coverage for fans throughout the market.

“This partnership with Scripps Sports is an exciting moment for the Detroit Pistons,” said Arn Tellem, vice chairman of the Detroit Pistons. “Basketball has always been deeply woven into the fabric of our city, and we’re proud to expand access to our games. We look forward to partnering with Scripps to deliver outstanding broadcasts and programming that reflects the energy, pride and passion of Detroit.”

“Over-the-air broadcasting has proven to be one of the most powerful ways to connect sports teams with their fans,” said Brian Lawlor, president of Scripps Sports. “As we are seeing right now, the fandom around the Pistons is high and every fan deserves to have access to Detroit Pistons games. Scripps Sports is proud to partner with the Pistons to deliver their games to more fans than ever before – because the best team in the East deserves the best broadcast platform in the NBA.”

As part of the partnership, the Pistons and Scripps Sports will produce comprehensive game‑day coverage, including pregame, in‑game and postgame programming. The agreement also includes a weekly, half‑hour Pistons show, along with original team‑focused content integrated across broadcasts and digital programming across Scripps’ family of channels.

WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission has approved previously announced station swaps between Scripps and Gray Media that were announced in July of 2025, creating new duopolies for both station groups.

The station groups said that the swaps were of equal value and no cash was exchanged.

In allowing the deal, the FCC rejected arguments by the American Television Alliance and NCTA – The Internet & Television Association (NCTA) in filings with the regulator that contended that the new duopolies would give the station groups too much power in retransmission consent negotiations.

More specifically, the deal transferred the following licenses from Gray to Scripps: KKTV in Colorado Springs; KMVT and KSVT-D in Twin Falls, Idaho, KSVT-LD; and KKCO and KJCT-LP in Grand Junction, Colo. as well as some translator licenses.

In addition, the FCC approved the transfer of the following licenses from Scripps to Gray: KATC in Lafayette, La. and WSYM-TV in Lansing, Mich.

The letter granting the license transfers and the FCC’s reasoning behind its decision is available here.

NASHVILLE and CINCINNATI—The Nashville Predators and Scripps Sports have signed a multi-year media rights agreement that will bring free, over-the-air broadcasts of the Predators’ National Hockey League games to fans across Middle Tennessee and beyond beginning with the 2026–27 NHL season.

The deal is part of a larger push by Scripps to expand its sports programming. The Predators join four other teams in Scripps Sports’ portfolio of NHL full-season media rights agreements: the Tampa Bay Lightning, Vegas Golden Knights, Florida Panthers and Utah Mammoth.

This new agreement allows The E.W. Scripps Company to produce and distribute all local preseason, regular season and first-round playoff Predators games that are not allocated exclusively to national broadcasts. Scripps Sports will also broadcast live 30-minute pre-game and post-game shows for every locally broadcast Predators game.

“We are incredibly excited to partner with Scripps Sports in delivering broadcasts of Preds games for free to our fans,” said Sean Henry, chief executive officer of the Nashville Predators and Bridgestone Arena. “Our partnership has been a natural fit as we are aligned on key community initiatives, and we greatly appreciate the way Scripps has embraced the Preds and our fans.”

Scripps, which owns WTVF NewsChannel 5 in Nashville, plans to use its second full-power local station in the Middle Tennessee area, WNPX-TV for the games and content.

WNPX will be the broadcast home of the Predators. It will be branded “The Spot – Nashville 28” beginning this summer, featuring news and entertainment programming in addition to all locally produced Predators games when the NHL season starts in October.

In addition to the over-the-air access being provided to Predators fans in Middle Tennessee on The Spot – Nashville 28, Scripps will look to partner with other broadcasters through the Preds’ five-state viewing territory of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia for distribution of the full-season of Predators games in each local market.

The Predators and Scripps Sports also reported that they will be introducing a new, direct-to-consumer experience where fans can livestream games throughout the local broadcast territory.

The Predators and Scripps said they will provide more details in the future about their streaming plans and additional broadcast partners.

“The Predators and NewsChannel 5 have worked together for years to bring connection in our community, whether it’s through literacy drives, disaster relief or fun, family-friendly animated hockey games. Our partnership has always been about doing what’s best for our home and our neighbors,” said Lyn Plantinga, Scripps senior vice president of local media and WTVF general manager. “Now, we’re taking that connection even further, giving fans more access to the games they love while doubling down on our shared commitment to serve Middle Tennessee, both on and off the ice.”

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."

CINCINNATI—The E.W. Scripps Company has completed the previously announced sale of WRTV, its ABC-affiliated station in Indianapolis, to Circle City Broadcasting for $83 million.

The WRTV sale follows Scripps’ recent completion of the sale of WFTX, its Fox-affiliated station in Fort Myers, Florida, to Sun Broadcasting for $40 million.

Combined, the two transactions generated $123 million in cash proceeds, which the company says will be used toward debt paydown and the purchase of 23 ION-affiliated stations that it divested to INYO Broadcast Holdings in connection with its acquisition of ION in January 2021.

The current aggregate purchase price of the INYO stations is approximately $54 million pending timing of a deal close. Station ownership caps required Scripps to divest the stations when it acquired ION in 2021.

Scripps said that it will seek waivers from the FCC to the extent such rules are still in effect for the acquisition. Scripps also reported that ownership of the INYO stations would be immediately accretive to Scripps Networks division segment profit and margin, and would support coordination with Scripps’ other stations to develop potential new local programming opportunities.

Scripps also has an agreement to swap stations in five markets with Gray Television, a transaction that will strengthen Scripps’ competitive position in key Mountain West markets. That transaction, which requires relief from current television station ownership rules, is still in front of federal regulators for review.

KANSAS CITY—The Kansas City Current and Scripps Sports announced that Ion will have domestic broadcast rights to the 2026 Teal Rising Cup women’s soccer tournament.

As part of the deal, Scripps’ Ion broadcast network will broadcast all four matches of the four-team women's soccer tournament and provide supplementary programming for the event.

Building off the successful first edition of the event last summer, the 2026 Teal Rising Cup, presented by Visit Missouri, will take place at CPKC Stadium—the first stadium in the world purpose-built for women’s professional sports—on April 9 and 12 with doubleheaders on both matchdays. The four-team tournament includes reigning National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) Shield winner Kansas City Current, Mexican side Club América from Liga MX Femenil and Brazilian Serie A clubs Corinthians SC and SE Palmeiras.

Throughout the tournament, Kansas City Current broadcasters Jillian Carroll Letrinko and Dave Borchardt will call the action on Ion, which is available on pay TV, connected TV and free, ad-supported streaming platforms and over-the-air in 126 million homes.

“We are incredibly proud to welcome Ion as the domestic broadcast home of the 2026 Teal Rising Cup, presented by Visit Missouri,” said Kansas City Current vice president, communications Dani Welniak. “Allowing this tournament the opportunity to shine on a national stage is an opportunity our organization values significantly, and we are grateful to Scripps Sports for providing these globally recognized clubs and athletes with the platform they deserve. We are excited to give fans more opportunities to engage with our club throughout this historic, expanded Teal Rising Week.”

The event kicks off Thursday, April 9, at 5 p.m. CT when Club América takes on Palmeiras in the opening match. The KC Current then faces Corinthians SC at approximately 8 p.m. CT in match two. Action resumes at CPKC Stadium on Sunday, April 12, with the third-place game starting at 5 p.m. CT. The Teal Rising Cup champion will be determined in a battle between the winners of match one and match two at approximately 8 p.m. CT.

In addition to being broadcast nationally on Ion , all four Teal Rising Cup matches will be simulcast locally on Scripps’ The Spot – Kansas City 38, the official local TV station of the Teal Rising Cup.

"We’re excited to elevate and amplify the reach of the global soccer community by bringing this extraordinary showcase of world-class talent to the national stage," said Brian Lawlor, president of Scripps Sports. "We're honored to broadcast the 2026 Teal Rising Cup on Ion and shine a spotlight on these elite teams and remarkable athletes from around the world."

All four Teal Rising Cup matches will also be broadcast over the air in English on 90.9 The Bridge and in English, Spanish and Portuguese on the KC Current App.

CINCINNATI—In a move that will expand the distribution of women's sports on streaming platforms, The E.W. Scripps Company is launching the Scripps Sports Network, a 24/7 free, ad supported streaming television (FAST) channel that will feature live games and events, exclusive original series, specials, documentaries and other popular sports programming.

Scripps Sports Network joins the company’s expanding lineup of free streaming channels, including ION, ION Mystery, ION Plus, Bounce XL, Grit XTRA, Laff More and Scripps News.

Scripps Sports Network will premiere on Tuesday, March 24. Scripps said that the network will be widely available at launch, or shortly thereafter, across major streaming platforms and services, including: The Roku Channel, Samsung TV Plus, LG Channels, Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Fire TV and Alexa, Google TV Freeplay, Xumo Play, TCL tv+, TCL Channel, Plex, Local Now, Sports.TV and Tablo. Additional distribution partners are planned.

The launch of Scripps Sports Network expands Scripps Sports’ offerings of women’s sports, which have become increasingly popular. In 2025, the growing demand for women’s sports pushed streaming viewership for the NWSL on ION and WNBA on ION up by 25%.

“In today’s fragmented sports media landscape, Scripps Sports Network is meeting the moment as a reliable, easy-to-access home for passionate fans,” said Keisha Taylor Starr, general manager of Scripps Networks and Scripps chief marketing officer. “We are delivering what viewers want and advertisers need: premium sports content, live games, compelling personalities and year-round programming that’s freely accessible to streaming audiences. Our programming lineup makes Scripps Sports Network the most premium sports destination in the FAST marketplace.”

“Our recent live sports streaming growth tells us that fans are hungry for more,” added Brian Lawlor, president of Scripps Sports. “A dedicated 24/7 sports FAST channel allows us to further leverage our existing sports rights, create a platform for emerging league partnerships and grow our position in sports, particularly women’s sports, all while serving fans and marketing partners year-round.”

State Farm has signed on to be Scripps Sports Network’s foundational advertising partner and was an early investor in Scripps’ franchise nights of the WNBA on ION and NWSL on ION.

“We’ve witnessed firsthand the incredible energy and passion fueling women’s sports,” said Baldwin Cunningham, head of media and partnerships at State Farm. “That’s why State Farm is proud to continue championing women’s sports across the U.S. through sponsorship of the new Scripps Sports Network streaming channel. Investing in women’s sports isn’t just the right thing to do – it’s good for business and it elevates athletes, inspires fans and creates meaningful opportunities that strengthen communities nationwide.”

The lineup of live events and other programming on the FAST channel will include more than 100 live events each year. Scripps described programming highlights as follows:

• Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL). SSN will be the home for 10 regular season PWHL games. The first game will be March 25 as the Montréal Victoire take on the Minnesota Frost at 7 p.m. ET. The games are part of a new partnership between Scripps Sports and the PWHL, which will see ION broadcast the league’s first-ever game on national linear television in the U.S. on March 28 as well as the PWHL Walter Cup Finals in May.
• National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL). Scripps Sports is a national television partner of the league, with ION showcasing top matches from across the league every Saturday night of the regular season. Scripps Sports Network will air 59 NWSL games live as well as all NWSL on ION coverage.
• A package of 12 regular-season women’s professional volleyball contests from Major League Volleyball (MLV), with a matchup between the Orlando Valkyries and the Columbus Fury serving as the network’s inaugural broadcast on March 24 at 7 p.m. ET. Scripps Sports Network will also air the MLV’s Championship Weekend matches.
• The Pro Cheer League, which brings the intensity of professional sports to cheerleading for the first time on national television, features athletes competing in an all-new competitive format.
• Athlos NYC, the popular annual, one-of-its-kind women’s-only track and field event that offers fans a unique way to see and support the world’s fastest women.
• National Arena League (NAL), represented by Stoked Sports & Entertainment and Sky Top Content, has quickly become one of the most competitive indoor football leagues in the United States. The American 7s Football League (A7FL®) is the nation’s premier full-contact, no helmets, no pads, 7-on-7 football league.
• Elevance Health Women’s Fort Myers Tip-Off, which welcomes the top NCAA college basketball programs from around the country for incredible competition during Thanksgiving Week.
• The Scripps National Spelling Bee, the nation’s largest and longest-running educational competition.
• The Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) will play a prominent role on the new network with more than 100 hours of WNBA encore telecasts of games originally aired live on Scripps’ ION.
• Programming originating from other Scripps Sports partnerships – including the National Hockey League’s (NHL) Florida Panthers and Vegas Golden Knights, the NCAA’s Big Sky Conference, and more – will also be part of the Scripps Sports Network lineup.
• Scripps Sports Network will include exclusive, new original programming, with 10 new series in development, led by the network’s first two originals, both of which will be hosted by contemporary women’s sports icons.
• Scripps Sports Network will also be home to popular acquired content, including the hit series “Cold as Balls” featuring comedian and actor Kevin Hart interviewing athletes and sports personalities from the confines of ice-cold tubs. Additionally, the channel will host a curated suite of top sports podcasts, with further details to be announced.

DETROIT & CINCINNATI—Following record ratings for women’s hockey during the 2026 Winter Olympics, Scripps Sports has reached an agreement with the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) to broadcast its first-ever game on national linear television in the U.S.

The PWHL Takeover Tour game between the New York Sirens and the Montreal Victoire will air on ION on Saturday, March 28, at 1 p.m. ET, live from Little Caesars Arena in Detroit. Ally Financial will be the presenting sponsor for the game.

Through ION – which is available free over-the-air, via pay TV, connected TV and free, ad-supported streaming platforms – the game will be accessible to more than 126 million U.S. households, representing a significant opportunity for new fans to discover the league.

“Fan interest in women’s hockey is at an all-time high, buoyed by the amazing success of Team USA in this year’s Winter Olympics Games,” said Brian Lawlor, president of Scripps Sports, which has made women's sports a key part of its strategy. “We are thrilled to be teaming with the PWHL and Ally Financial on this milestone event and to bring the excitement of this league to a national audience for the first time.”

The first-ever national broadcast comes at a time of rapid growth for PWHL. Now in its third season, the league is approaching 2 million all-time fans and seeing a 20% year-over-year increase in average attendance.

That momentum is further fueled by the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026, where 61 PWHL players competed and returned with 41 medals, including Team USA’s dramatic overtime gold medal victory over Canada.

“We are continuing to fuel this rocket ship that is the PWHL as we expand the reach and exposure of our league to new fans,” said Amy Scheer, PWHL executive vice president of business operations. “This first‑ever national broadcast is a truly historic moment for our league, and with partners like Ally Financial and Scripps Sports, we’re introducing more people to our fast-paced and exciting game than ever before.”

CINCINNATI—The E.W. Scripps Company has reached an agreement to purchase WTVQ, the ABC affiliate in Lexington, Kentucky from Morris Network, Inc. for $15.8 million.

The deal for WTVQ would create a duopoly in Lexington with the company’s existing NBC affiliate, WLEX if the sale receives regulatory approval.

Scripps president and CEO Adam Symson says the acquisition would deepen the company’s commitment to the Lexington market.

“Whether through swaps, divestitures or strategic acquisitions like this, Scripps is focused on seeking out the strongest opportunities to grow,” Symson said. “This acquisition would give us the scale and depth in Lexington to strengthen our financial durability and assign more reporters to neighborhoods throughout the area, enhancing our public service journalism and creating greater community connection across the market.”

The transaction requires federal regulatory and other approvals. While approval is pending, Scripps reported that it will provide certain programming, marketing and related services for WTVQ via a local programming and marketing agreement.

The deal comes at a time when the Federal Communications Commission has signaled that it is willing to revise ownership rules and broadcasters have stepped up their acquisitions of other stations.

The purchase of WTVQ in Lexington follows several strategic moves by Scripps in recent months to optimize its local television portfolio. On Monday, March 2, the company announced it closed on the sale of WFTX in Ft. Myers, Florida, and expects to close on the sale of WRTV in Indianapolis in the coming weeks.

Last July, the company also announced it had agreed to swap stations in five mid-sized and small markets with Gray Media. That transaction, which requires relief from current television station ownership rules, is now in front of federal regulators for review.

In addition, Scripps has exercised its option to re-acquire 23 ION-affiliated stations that it divested to INYO Broadcast Holdings simultaneously with its acquisition of ION in January 2021.

CINCINNATI—The E.W. Scripps Company announced that the sale of WFTX, its Fox-affiliated station in Fort Myers, Florida, to Sun Broadcasting for $40 million has been completed.

Scripps intends to use cash from the sale to pay down debt and strengthen its balance sheet, Scripps President and CEO Adam Symson said.

The completion of the WFTX sale is part of a series of recent transactions by Scripps to optimize its local television portfolio.

In October, the company announced an agreement to sell WRTV, its ABC-affiliated station in Indianapolis, to Circle City Broadcasting for $83 million. That sale has received FCC approval and is expected to close in the coming weeks.

Last July, Scripps also announced it had agreed to swap stations in five mid-sized and small markets with Gray Media. That transaction, which requires relief from current television station ownership rules, is now in front of federal regulators for review.

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.”

WASHINGTON—While broadcasters have made the elimination of ownership caps a major policy priority for decades, a new report from OpenSecrets documents how those efforts went into overdrive in 2025, as the Federal Communications Commission signaled it might be willing to change the rules and station groups announced a number of major deals that would require regulatory changes.

In 2025, Nexstar Media Group spent $3.2 million lobbying the FCC in 2025, roughly 10 times more than it did every year from 2018 to 2023, when its lobbying activity remained steady, according to OpenSecrets.

Meanwhile, Sinclair Broadcast Group, the second largest station owner, last year spent $800,000, up from $770,000 in 2024 and about four times its 2023 federal lobbying total.

As previously reported, broadcasters have long argued that the current rules that limit the reach of station groups to no more than 39% of all TV homes in the U.S., put them at a severe competitive disadvantage to big tech companies and streaming services who have captured a large share of the TV ad and subscription market in the last 15 years. Our full coverage of that issue can be found here and here along with our FCC coverage here.

The issue has become even more important as Nexstar announced in 2025 a $6.2 billion deal to acquire Tegna, Sinclair began talks about acquiring E.W. Scripps and station groups like Scripps and Gray announced deals and station swaps that would require changes to the rules.

The study also noted that “to help sway the FCC, Congress and the White House, Nexstar hired lobbyist Jeff Miller, who served as finance chair on President Donald Trump’s second inaugural committee, at the start of 2025. Miller heads Miller Strategies, one of the firms that have benefited most from their close connection with the Trump administration. Nexstar paid the firm $510,000 over the course of the year, although most of its lobbying was handled by the company’s in-house team. Tegna reported its first year of lobbying in 2025, spending $550,000 exclusively on Miller Strategies. Combined, the lobbying firm raked in over a million dollars from just the potential Nexstar-Tegna merger.”

The report also highlights the ongoing debate over whether the FCC has authority to change the rules, as the NAB and broadcasters have argued, or whether it would require Congress to pass new legislation, as opponents of changes to the ownership caps have argued.

The full report is available here.

CINCINNATI—The E.W. Scripps Company has named Oliver Gray vice president, network sports and client partnerships, effective immediately.

In his new role, Gray will lead efforts to connect national advertisers with Scripps’ platforms – including its rapidly growing sports portfolio – and will work closely across Scripps’ network sales and Scripps Sports teams to develop integrated brand partnerships that deepen client relationships and drive revenue. He reports to Brian Norris, Scripps executive vice president and chief revenue officer, and is based in New York.

“Oliver brings a strong track record of driving revenue growth across television and digital, with deep expertise across sports and streaming,” said Norris. “His vision for translating fandom into meaningful business results will help advertisers tap into Scripps’ premium sports and entertainment portfolio in powerful new ways.”

Gray brings more than 15 years of success in sports sponsorship and national media advertising sales. Most recently, as head of East Coast sales and partnerships at digital sports media company Overtime, he led a sales team to exceed revenue goals, securing new business from national brands including Dunkin, Hershey, Delta, DraftKings, Coca‑Cola and The Home Depot.

Previously, Gray helped lead Amazon’s sales and marketing partnership with the National Football League (NFL) for “Thursday Night Football.” His career spans digital sales and marketing leadership positions with CNN, Discovery Communications and TV Guide Network. He also served as The Slate Group’s dedicated representative for Magna, Mediavest, Starcom and other agencies.

Gray holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Tufts University. He is also engaged in community service as founder of Project Come Up and as a volunteer with iMentor.

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.

NEW YORK—Madhavi Tadikonda has joined E.W. Scripps as senior director of network sales, tasked with spearheading advertising sales for its portfolio of networks across all platforms and brands.

A 25-year media veteran, she most recently was executive director and head of investment at global media agency EssenceMediacom, where she oversaw media investment and strategy partnerships with Coca-Cola, Adidas, Target, Airbnb, JPMorgan Chase, Indeed, Bayer, Ally Bank, Nationwide and American Airlines, Scripps said.

“Madhavi brings an outstanding reputation and a proven track record from the agency side, where she built and led investment teams, negotiated high-value partnerships and delivered growth for many of the world’s most recognizable brands,” said Tony Song, head of network and advanced media sales at Scripps, to whom Tadikonda will report. “Her extensive experience and deep understanding of the media landscape make her a valuable addition to Scripps’ sales organization. We could not be more thrilled to have her on board.”

Tadikonda, who will be nased in New York, has negotiated and overseen traditional and media investments for more than 100 brands across all platforms, including linear, CTV, sports, streaming and social, Scripps said. Prior to EssenceMediacom, she held senior roles at Havas Media Group and Canvas Worldwide. She started her career at Bates Worldwide and McCann Erickson, moving on to management positions with The Martin Agency and Initative, Scripps said.

“Scripps’ diverse portfolio, commitment to innovation and being a leader in women’s sports create incredible opportunities to deliver value for marketing partners,” Tadikonda said. “I look forward to leveraging my experience to help drive growth and elevate the company’s position in the marketplace.”

A graduate of the University of Miami, Tadikonda was recognized as U.S. Campaign’s Media Buyer of the Year in 2021, as a member of The Drum’s 2020 Who’s Who in Marketing and as a 4A’s Vanguard executive sponsor.

CINCINNATI—The E.W. Scripps Co. has issued a statement saying that its board of directors has unanimously decided to reject an unsolicited proposal from Sinclair to acquire the company.

In November filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Sinclair reported that it had acquired a 9.9% stake in Scripps and was proposing to acquire the Cincinnati-based station group for about $7 per share in a mix of cash and stock.

On Nov. 26, Scripps responded with a limited-duration shareholder rights plan, a so-called poison pill that is often used to discourage takeovers.

On Dec. 16, the station group reported that after a “careful review and evaluation in consultation with its financial and legal advisors, that Sinclair’s offer is not in the best interests of the company and its shareholders.”

Kim Williams, the chair of Scripps’ board, said: “The board is committed to acting in the best interests of all Scripps shareholders as well as the company’s employees and the many communities and audiences it serves across the United States. After careful consideration, Scripps’ board determined that Sinclair’s unsolicited acquisition proposal is not in the best interests of Scripps and its shareholders. The board nonetheless remains open to evaluating opportunities to enhance shareholder value and will continue to consider any course of action, including any acquisition proposal, that is in the best interest of all shareholders.”

Sinclair issued a statement in response: “We are disappointed that despite Scripps encouraging Sinclair to make a proposal, Scripps’ board rejected the proposal without engaging. Our proposal was based on previous discussions and was responsive to concerns about Scripps’ communities, employees and shareholders. It delivers significant strategic and financial benefits for both companies and all shareholders, and represents a substantial premium over both Scripps’ unaffected and current share price. We call on Scripps to engage with us regarding our proposal. We believe Scripps’ shareholders deserve a full and fair evaluation of this opportunity.”

Scripps said Morgan Stanley & Co. is acting as its financial adviser and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP as its legal adviser.

Following last week’s disclosure that it had acquired a 8.2% stake in E.W. Scripps, Sinclair has filed papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission proposing to buy the Cincinnati-based station group for about $7 a share.

The Sinclair filing also indicated that it has since increased its holdings in Scripps to a 9.9% stake.

Scripps confirmed that it has “received an unsolicited acquisition proposal from Sinclair” and said the company’s board will carefully review and evaluate any proposals, including the unsolicited Sinclair proposal, to determine “the course of action that it believes is in the best interests of the company and all of its shareholders as well as its employees and the many communities and audiences it serves across the United States.”

Sinclair is offering $2.72 in cash and $4.28 in combined company common stock “based on approximately $325 million in estimated synergies and on a 7.0x EV/ EBITDA multiple.” It also reported that the $7-per-share price represents a 200% premium to the Issuer's 30-day volume-weighted average price as of Nov. 6.

Sinclair also told the SEC that the transaction would be executed through a separation of Sinclair’s ventures business and certain corporate infrastructure from its broadcast business, followed by a merger of its broadcast business with Scripps.

The new company would have a market capitalization of about $2.9 billion according to some reports.

Sinclair had previously announced plans for a strategic review of its operations and said it was considering spinning off its ventures business.

If the deal goes through, Sinclair said the new publicly traded parent company would retain Sinclair’s “dual-class structure.”

"The Scripps family would retain voting control of the Issuer's existing debt and preferred stock during an integration period to avoid unnecessary refinancing expenses or covenant disruption," the filing said.

“The combined company would maintain an independent majority on its Board of Directors,“ the filing also said. “Board representation would be proportional to each company's shareholders' ownership in the combined company, ensuring fair and balanced governance, and will include representation from both the Smith and Scripps families. The Scripps family would control the Board of Directors of the issuer of existing Issuer's debt and preferred stock.”

Sinclair also said, “We are confident that under existing rules, including the national cap, the transaction can be completed in a timely manner with limited select divestitures.”

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.

While most station groups reported major declines in ad revenue in the third quarter, thanks to a steep decline in political advertising compared to a year ago, this week’s earnings calls with analysts were generally bullish. Most station groups beat expectations, reporting better-than-expected year-over-year results for core advertising sales that exclude political and the Olympics.

A close review of those earnings calls also provides a snapshot of the state of the industry in the latter half of 2025 and its prospects for 2026.

Station executives offered bullish comments about next year, thanks to the prospects of heavy political advertising and the likelihood regulators will relax ownership rules and allow a wave of dealmaking.

For the moment, though, all the station results were heavily impacted by the absence of political revenue in Q3 2025 compared to the record spending during the 2024 presidential campaign.

“Advertising revenue of $476 million decreased $146 million or 23.5% over the comparable prior year quarter, primarily reflecting a $145 million year-over-year decrease in political advertising,” Nexstar Media Group President and Chief Operating Officer Michael Biard noted. “However, nonpolitical advertising was essentially flat and better than our expectation of a low single-digit decline.”

Sinclair also reported year-over-year declines in total revenue, thanks to the absence of significant ad income in Q3, but reported revenue that was generally better than expected. “We delivered strong performance and met or exceeded guidance across all key metrics,” Sinclair President and CEO Chris Ripley said on the company’s Q3 earnings call. “Total revenue of $773 million came in higher than the high end of our guidance range. Core revenues were up 7% year-over-year on an as-reported basis.”

Likewise, Gray Media generally beat analysts’ expectations and while overall revenue was down 21% YoY, Q3 2025 revenue was above analyst expectations.

Hilton Howell Jr., Gray Media’s chairman and CEO, said: “Our results for the third quarter of 2025 compared favorably to our Q3 guidance for both revenues and expenses. Total revenue in the third quarter of 2025 was $749 million, at the high end of our guidance for the quarter.”

Pat LaPlatney, president and co-CEO at Gray Media added: “Q3 continued the theme we’ve been describing throughout 2025, with advertisers remaining somewhat cautious due to the macro environment. Through the quarter, though, we saw core activity strengthen more than we had projected back in August, and we ultimately finished on the high side of guidance. Remember that the Olympics on NBC provided about a $20 million uplift in July and August of 2024, of which about $16 million was core ad revenue and $4 million was political. Factoring that in, our third quarter was up about 1% over 2024.”

E.W. Scripps reported that third-quarter company revenue was $526 million, down 19% or $120 million from the prior-year quarter, mainly due to political advertising. But its Local Media division reported that core advertising (excluding political) was up, due to the services category and ”overall growth in national advertising due to strong sales efforts and Scripps’ sports strategy.”

“During the quarter, our Local Media division revenue was down 27% due to the absence of political advertising revenue compared to the prior year,” Chief Financial Officer Jason Combs said. “Core advertising revenue was up nearly 2%. We grew national advertising revenue, driven by an increase in our largest category, services. Our sports strategy helped drive that Q3 performance as well. Local Media distribution revenue was flat."

‘We’re Very, Very Optimistic About 2026’
While broadcasters haven’t released detailed guidance for their 2026 revenue expectations, executives offered generally bullish comments for the year ahead in terms of the impact of political advertising and the prospects for deregulation.

“I would say that we’re really optimistic about 2026,” said Gray Media’s LaPlatney. “We have some early Q1 numbers that are encouraging, in fact, very encouraging…As we sit here today, we’re very, very optimistic about 2026.

“We think broadcast is going from strength to strength at this moment,” explained Perry Sook, founder, chairman and CEO of Nexstar. “In the near term, we see a decreasing interest rate environment, the reset of the majority of our distribution contracts at the end of this year, the acquisition of TEGNA and an election year in 2026, all of which we expect to drive shareholder value. Longer term, we expect to accelerate our CW and NewsNation network growth strategies, our deployment of applications for ATSC 3.0 and innovation around how we go to market and the products and services we bring to benefit our viewers and our advertisers.”

As expected, M&A activity was a major topic of discussion.

‘We're Operating in the Wild Wild West’
Sinclair’s Ripley noted that “the broadcast sector is facing secular challenges within linear TV while having a unique opportunity for significant consolidation. We believe the industry is at an inflection point where scale and operational efficiency will increasingly separate high-performing companies from the rest. … Against this backdrop, in mid-August, we launched a strategic review of our broadcast business and an evaluation of a potential separation of ventures to optimize value creation across our portfolio,” that has already led to “several transactions, including partner station acquisitions and select acquisitions and divestitures.”

“One potential path for industry evolution could involve consolidating into two similarly sized scale broadcast groups," Ripley continued. "[C]reating another group comparable in size to the large broadcast combination announced in August [i.e., the proposed Nexstar-Tegna combination], could unlock an estimated $600 million to $900 million in annual synergies through mergers and subsequent portfolio optimizations. This level of consolidation would strengthen the industry's financial footing and position broadcasters as more capable competitors to big media and big tech.

“While we present this as one potential industry scenario rather than a prediction, the fundamental point is clear,” Ripley added. “The regulatory environment now enables transformational consolidation that can benefit Broadcast Group shareholders, creditors, employees and the communities we serve. Sinclair is well-positioned in this environment, and we're actively evaluating how best to participate to maximize value for our stakeholders.”

Scripps’ discussion of M&A opportunities was more modest. “As I've said from the start, we are totally focused on optimizing our portfolio of stations to structurally enhance performance and economic durability in service to our vision to create connection,” Scripps President and CEO Adam Symson sais. “We've already announced a station-swap deal with Gray where we are exchanging two Scripps stations for five Gray stations, a transaction that improves our market positioning and creates immediate efficiency opportunities. We also announced station sales in Fort Myers, Fla., and Indianapolis for cash. The sale prices represent premium multiples for the industry. These are quality stations we agreed to sell only at strong valuations, and the cash we receive will go directly to delevering.”

Deregulation Continues
In the Q3 earnings call, Nexstar’s Sook reiterated his previously expressed belief that the industry should see significant deregulation of broadcast ownership rules.

“The 8th Circuit mandate was issued on Oct. 21,” he said, refrencing the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision to vacate the Federal Communications Commission’s rule barring a station group from owning more than one of the top-four stations in audience share in a given market. “That eliminates the top-four ownership rule, that will go into effect as soon as that order is published in the Federal Register and it's effective 30 days later. … And we, again, continue to believe that this administration, the Trump administration and Brendan Carr at the FCC are focused on deregulating business, allowing businesses to breathe, allowing businesses to compete and that we’ve been spending a lot of time in Washington to reinforce at the regulatory agencies and on the hill that we are indeed here to help meet the regulatory moment."

While Gray Media has already announced a number of potential acquisitions and station swaps, including an agreement to acquire stations from Allen Media Group, Howell also expressed a note of caution during the analyst call. Reacting to a report of a possible merger or deal with Sinclair, he said, “there is nothing that we are in deep negotiation with at the moment.”

“We are in a period of time in our industry where things change faster than I have ever, ever seen it,” Howell added. “For the first time in the history of our business, we are really operating in the Wild, Wild West. No one knows what the rules actually are. Anybody that tells you that…they just do not. They cannot.

“I don’t want to…do any deal that would put the basic company in any kind of risk,“ he continued. “Now, there’s a lot of big opportunities to grow. Unlike perhaps some of our competitors, I don’t believe, and my management team unanimously does not believe, that Gray actually has to do anything. I mean, we’re just fine where we are, and we can carry on our previously announced efforts to just reduce our debt and pay it down and then return more to our shareholders.”

CINCINNATI—The E.W. Scripps Company has announced an agreement to sell WRTV, its local ABC-affiliated station in Indianapolis, to Circle City Broadcasting for $83 million.

Circle City Broadcasting is a privately held digital and news media company that is majority owned, controlled and operated by veteran broadcaster DuJuan McCoy, the former owner of Bayou City Broadcasting.

Circle City Broadcasting already operates two television properties in the Indianapolis market (WISH, the local Indianapolis CW affiliate, and WNDY, a MyNetwork affiliate) as well as Circulus Digital Media.

Scripps reported that it expects the transaction to close following regulatory and other customary approvals.

“Circle City Broadcasting has an established presence in Indianapolis, led by media veterans who understand both the local community and the broadcast industry,” said Adam Symson, Scripps president and CEO. “This strategic transaction allows Circle City Broadcasting to expand its service to Indiana communities while enabling Scripps to reduce debt and improve the durability of its local station portfolio over the long term.”

“As a native of Indianapolis and career small business owner, I am pleased to be adding RTV6 to Circle City Broadcasting’s existing news brands, which will create value for both our company as well as the hometown community we serve,” said McCoy.

The sale of WRTV follows two other local television station announcements from Scripps in recent months. In September, Scripps announced it had reached an agreement to sell WFTX in Ft. Myers/Naples to Sun Broadcasting. That sale is expected to close in the fourth quarter.

In July, the company announced it had agreed to swap stations in five mid-sized and small markets with Gray Media. That transaction, which requires relief from current television station ownership rules, being reviewed by the FCC.

CINCINNATI—The E.W. Scripps Company has named Daniel Parsons as its new chief information security officer, effective Oct. 20.

In the new role, Parsons leads Scripps’ enterprise cybersecurity strategy, responsible for protecting the integrity, availability and confidentiality of digital content, newsroom systems, intellectual property and consumer data.

Prior to this role, Parsons served as vice president of cyber defense at NBCUniversal.

During his career he also held cybersecurity roles at U.S. Bank, General Electric and Walmart, where he specialized in threat research, detection and incident response. Parsons also has partnered with leading cybersecurity researchers to help develop industry-standard tools that organizations worldwide use to identify and defend against cyber threats.

“Daniel brings a track record of building an employee culture of shared cybersecurity responsibility and managing complex security operations across multiple brands,” said Laura Tomlin, Scripps’ chief transformation officer. “His leadership will be mission-critical in safeguarding consumer trust and company data, and in creating the secure foundation we need to innovate, expand our offerings and drive sustainable growth.”

Parsons serves on the Ohio Board of Directors for NPower, a national nonprofit organization that offers free technology training and job placement assistance to young adults and military veterans and their spouses.

CINCINNATI—Scripps Sports has announced that it will air five University of Hawai‘i football games across Scripps local television stations in the western half of the country this fall beginning with the Sept. 13 contest against Portland State.

Scripps stations in San Diego, Denver, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Tucson, Boise/Twin Falls, Bakersfield, San Luis Obispo, Great Falls/Helena/Billings, Butte/Bozeman will be airing the games

“We’re thrilled to expand our coverage of UH football across more cities in the west region,” said UH Mānoa Athletics Director Matt Elliott. “We recruit in many of these areas and we have strong alumni and supporters in this region. We are deeply grateful to the Scripps team for their partnership in making this opportunity a reality.”

“We are pleased to bring University of Hawai‘i Rainbow Warrior football to a wider audience in the continental states,” added Brian Lawlor, President, Scripps Sports. “With many players from the markets in which we have stations, we are happy to make it easier for their family and hometown fans to watch them in action.”

The Rainbow Warriors, a member of the Mountain West Conference, is currently 2-1 on the season.

The addition of Mountain West Conference games this season follows a five-year renewal for the Big Sky Conference that Scripps Sports announced earlier this year.

The match-ups Scripps will carry:

• Sat. Sept. 13 vs Portland State
• Sat. Sept. 20 vs Fresno State
• Sat. Oct. 11 vs Utah State
• Sat. Nov. 8 vs San Diego State
• Sat. Nov. 29 vs Wyoming

A football season unlike any other is taking shape in a conflicted broadcast environment where big-game producers are delivering unprecedented viewing experiences digitally as TV station owners count on the sport’s popularity to help them weather a weakened ad market.

The challenges were highlighted by The Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger during an early August earnings call, when he discussed the now-launched ESPN direct-to-consumer streaming service, which encompasses all content delivered over the seven ESPN cable channels and online assets, including ESPN+.

While stressing that Disney views what it’s doing with ESPN as part of its TV business, Iger acknowledged, “the features and functionality of the ESPN app will have more on them or in the app than obviously any linear channel can provide. It will really be a sports fan’s dream in terms of everything they’ll be able to do and watch on that channel.”

ESPN-NFL Deal
Adding to the drama, the NFL and Disney also announced a landmark deal that, if approved, would give the league an unprecedented 10% stake in a media partner in exchange for ESPN’s takeover of NFL Network, with the addition of more games and other benefits. A taste of what’s in the offing on the ESPN service, which launched Aug. 21, can be found on the NFL+ streaming service, which remains under the NFL’s control, delivering all its games, but is available in the deal with ESPN for bundling with the latter’s streaming service.

It happens that the advanced in-game betting, personalized fantasy team features and other data-rich enhancements available on NFL+ are supported by technology from Genius Sports, which has also been supporting features on ESPN+. While declining to go into details of what his company is bringing to the new streaming service, Matt Fleckenstein, chief product officer at Genius Sports, says the arc of development on ESPN and NFL+ is parallel.

Specifics are “just a question of whether we’re working directly with NFL+ or ESPN,” he says.

The Genius BetVision app—a single-screen display of betting options supported by all the major sports-betting books, with video lagging just two to three seconds behind real time—is an especially noteworthy example of game-changing aspects to what ESPN might be offering.

With nearly all major pro and college football games now available on streaming services, the stakes couldn’t be higher for the broadcasters whose distribution via cable, satellite and OTA accounts for the lion’s share of the football audience. As they’ve done before, station group owners in their latest earnings reports cited football as a significant counterforce to economic headwinds impacting ad revenues.

During Sinclair’s Q2 earnings call in early August, Chief Operating Officer Rob Weisbord, acknowledging the overall advertising environment “remains rough,” said that with “larger buys coming down the pipeline … we’re cautiously optimistic as we move through the summer months into September with the return of college football and NFL.”

Building on the popularity of football, Sinclair has launched four podcasts devoted to college football programs at Ohio State, Alabama, Texas and Notre Dame, and “will shortly be announcing a landmark events and media partnership” devoted to “producing original content and brand activations,” says Chris King, Sinclair’s vice president of investor relations. This will include a “nationwide tailgate tour during the upcoming college football season” and an exclusive event at February’s Super Bowl in Santa Clara, Calif., he said.

Scripps’ Sports Strategy
E.W. Scripps also touted the importance of football to its second-half expectations following first-half revenue performance that was down just 2% from levels reached in a national election year, marking a “best-of-class” performance that tied “directly back to our sports strategy,” according to Chief Financial Officer Jason Combs. While “there’s a lot of hesitancy out there” in the overall second-half advertising picture, Combs voices “optimism around our ability to monetize football as it starts to kind of roll back in here.”

One aspect to that optimism relates to Scripps Sports’ longstanding relationship with the NCAA Division I Big Sky Conference, which consists of 10 full and two affiliate member universities in eight Western states. The contract with the Big Sky, renewed for another five years in March, makes Scripps responsible for producing and broadcasting at least 12 conference games a year over its seven Montana stations involving either or both of the state’s conference members, Montana State and Montana University, James Raffety, Scripps Sports senior director of sports production, says.

Scripps is generating coverage that “brings big market, big production to FCS [Football Championship Subdivision] football,” Rafferty says. And Scripps also benefits from the fact that the Big Sky relationship runs deeper than basic game production, he says, with the broadcaster acting as league supporter in event productions like the annual Big Sky Hall of Fame banquet and the Media Day season kickoff. It’s a relationship that goes to the heart of Montana culture with the broadcast of the annual “Brawl of the Wild” showdown between MU and MSU, which Rafferty says draws the biggest statewide audience for any TV program other than the Super Bowl.

Local Ties
Many other station owners benefit from relationships they’ve built with colleges at regional and local levels, in some cases enabling game coverage not supplied by the national networks and, in others, resulting in ancillary programming with games broadcast nationally. Gray Media, for example, is leveraging multiple university partnerships with its launch of regional sports networks, says Robert Folliard, the station group’s senior vice president of government relations and distribution.

“This is a strategic initiative for the company to get into local sports where there’s a ton of advertising and sponsorship opportunities,” Folliard says. “We provide the only platform that can get them into every home.”

On another front, Gray with six other partners in the NextGen TV Pearl TV alliance will be broadcasting college and NFL games in HDR-enhanced 4K, marking a major advance in viewing experience over what consumers typically get through cable and online services. With FCC Chair Brendan Carr voicing enthusiasm for NextGen TV, it looks like “all signals are a go” for expeditious transition to ATSC 3.0, Folliard says, which means TV stations will be in a much stronger position to hold football fans with the combination of superior signal quality and OTA access to interactive game playing and real-time betting.

Nobody is doing more than Fox Sports to keep all its boats afloat, including the new Fox One DTC streaming service, by delivering superior viewing experiences across all affiliated TV and digital outlets. On the big home screen, whether NFL games are delivered via pay TV, OTA or online, Fox is tapping things it introduced at this year’s Super Bowl to enhance the lean-back experience, says Michael Davies, executive vice president of field operations at Fox Sports.

“We’re looking at picking up where we left off,” Davies says. He cites wider use of things like dual SkyCams, Lidar technology for nonobstructive on-screen placements of AR-embellished graphics displays and officials’ Hawk-Eye play-review systems to help commentators with real-time analysis. At some point, Fox Sports anticipates embellishing some NFL broadcasts with output from field-based 180-degree cameras that Fox partner Cosm has deployed to support immersive off-site theatrical viewing of game action.

CINCINNATI—The E.W. Scripps Company has announced that six of its channels are now streaming as part of Peacock’s 24/7 channel offering and are available to subscribers of NBCU’s Peacock streaming service.

The six channels are ION, ION Mystery, Bounce, Court TV, Court TV Legendary Trials and Scripps News.

Peacock’s always-on streaming channels are designed to be a robust collection of fan-favorite content across a variety of categories, including Sports (NFL, Premier League), News (NBC News, Sky News, TODAY), Entertainment (WWE and Saturday Night Live); and dozens more channels for every fan, from reality, true crime, Spanish-language, comedy and more.

Scripps described the six channels as follows:

• ION is a leading general entertainment network featuring an expansive programming lineup that includes women’s sports, popular off-network series and more.
• ION Mystery is home to some of television’s most binge-worthy dramas, docuseries and originals.
• Court TV is devoted to live gavel-to-gavel coverage, in-depth legal reporting, and expert analysis of the nation's most important and compelling trials.
• Court TV Legendary Trials features Court TV’s archived footage from some of the nation’s most gripping trials through the years.
• Bounce features a programming mix of original series and movies, theatrical motion pictures, off network series, specials and events designed for African American audiences.
• Scripps News delivers compelling, context-driven news, fact-based reporting and a deeper look at the “why” of each story with objective, impactful storytelling.

As the death toll continues to mount, with at least 120 killed and more than 170 people still missing on July 10 from devastating Texas floods, a number of broadcast station groups have announced efforts to raise money for those impacted by the disaster.

Gray Media, Graham Media Group, E.W. Scripps and Sinclar are among the broadcast station group owners who have announced efforts to raise and donate money as their stations and other broadcasters continue to provide critical information about the disaster.

A few highlights of those efforts include:

• Sinclair has launched Sinclair Cares: Texas Tragedy Relief, a national fundraising campaign in partnership with the Salvation Army, to support those affected by the devastating flooding across Texas. It said 100% of funds raised will provide critical emergency assistance including mobile feeding units, meals, hydration, shelter, clean up kits, hygiene kits and emotional care to survivors and first responders. Sinclair noted that its stations in San Antonio (KABB and WOAI) and Austin (KEYE) have been reporting on the story since the flooding began on July 4, delivering continuous coverage on Friday and Saturday, expanding newscasts into Sunday, with KABB and WOAI airing 52 hours of live coverage and KEYE also adding extended live coverage. To further support the ongoing effort, Sinclair has deployed 10 journalists and additional resources from other markets to assist with comprehensive coverage across all platforms. More information is available at SinclairCares.com.
• In response to the devastating floods that swept through Central Texas and the Hill Country, Graham Media Group and Gray Media have joined forces to launch an urgent donation drive supporting local relief and recovery efforts. The campaign raised more than $120,000 in donations in its first 24 hours, including a $25,000 donation from Gray. Graham is making an additional $15,000 donation to the campaign. Through this collaborative campaign, Graham ’s KSAT in San Antonio and KPRC in Houston and Gray stations across 113 U.S. markets aim to generate donations that deliver vital resources—including food, housing and financial aid—to impacted communities. The station groups said 100% of funds raised will support on-the-ground efforts in flood-affected regions Donate at www.togetherfortx.com
• The Scripps News Group and the Scripps Howard Fund have raised more than $75,000 to provide relief for those impacted by the devastating floods in Central Texas. Scripps reported that since its campaign launched on July 7, support has poured in from across the nation, with more than $50,000 donated by hundreds of people from more than 25 states. E.W. Scripps has also contributed $25,000 to bolster the relief efforts. Scripps reported that the floods are now the deadliest instance of inland flooding in the U.S. since 1976, when Colorado’s Big Thompson Canyon flooded, killing 144 people, according to a new report. To give: Text FLOODING to 50155 or visit scrippsnews.com/relief.
• The Broadcasters Foundation of America is also making one-time, emergency grants to broadcasters who need financial help recovering from a natural disaster or acute emergency is extending that help to broadcasters impacted by the Texas flood. It said there are two ways to apply for an emergency grant: Personal Application - Broadcaster applying for themselves following an emergency or an Employer Application - General Manager, Market Manager, or HR representative applying on behalf of your employees following an emergency. Applications can be submitted here.

TV Tech will add more examples as we collect them.

ATLANTA and CINCINNATI—Gray Media and The E.W. Scripps Co. have agreed to swap television stations across five midsized and small markets, resulting in the creation of new duopolies for each group.

As part of the agreements, Gray will acquire Scripps’ WSYM (Fox) in Lansing, Mich., (DMA 113), and KATC (ABC) in Lafayette, La. (DMA 125). The acquisition of WSYM will create a duopoly in Lansing, where Gray owns WILX (NBC), and the acquisition of KATC will complement Gray’s strong presence in the Southeast, including all other markets in Louisiana.

Gray and Scripps said that the swap involves the even exchange of comparable assets. As a result, “neither company will pay cash consideration to the other,” the station groups said.

The companies said these transactions would give the two station groups the market scale and depth to strengthen their financial durability, allowing them to add more local news and sports programming.

The swaps come at a time when the FCC has been more lenient in approving deals that allow a station group to own more than one top-four network station in a DMA.

Gray and Scripps anticipate closing both sides of the swap simultaneously in the fourth quarter of this year, after regulatory and other customary approvals. The regulatory approvals will require certain waivers of local ownership restrictions, the companies said.

“We are very pleased to be executing a successful set of station swaps with Scripps that brings great value to both companies,” Gray President and Co-CEO Pat LaPlatney said. “At Gray, due to the strategic nature of these two acquisitions and the benefits to our operations, we anticipate expanding the news staff and hours of live local newscasts on both stations soon after closing the acquisitions.”

Scripps will acquire Gray’s KKTV (CBS) in Colorado Springs, Colo. (DMA 86), where Scripps owns KOAA (NBC); KKCO (NBC) and low power station KJCT-LP (ABC) in Grand Junction, Colo. (DMA 187); and KMVT (CBS) and low power station KSVT-LD (Fox) in Twin Falls, Idaho (DMA 189), where Scripps owns low power station KSAW-LD (ABC). These acquisitions bolster Scripps’ already strong regional presence in the West, where it owns and operates television stations across Montana, Idaho, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada and California.

“These new stations will allow Scripps to expand upon our local sports and news strategies in key growth geographies for us,” Scripps President and CEO Adam Symson said. “The resulting efficiencies will allow us to further invest in our connection to our communities, offering even richer coverage of these neighborhoods and regions.”

The parties intend to work closely with regulators, employees and other stakeholders to obtain the requisite approvals and to facilitate the smooth transition of these stations to new ownership.

NEW YORK and CINCINNATI—E.W. Scripps has announced a new, multiyear agreement with the WNBA that will continue Ion's regular-season coverage of the league on Friday nights. Ion has been the league's Friday night national broadcast home since 2023.

“The WNBA’s partnership with Scripps has already delivered great results in expanding the league’s reach and visibility,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said. “This new multiyear agreement reflects the growing excitement surrounding the league and the rising demand for WNBA games. Through Scripps’ Ion Network Friday-night doubleheaders, we will continue to showcase the world-class talent of WNBA athletes to even more fans nationwide.”

This new agreement comes on the heels of a 2024 season where average viewership for the “State Farm WNBA Friday Night Spotlight” increased by 133% year over year and attracted more than 23 million unique viewers across games and wrap shows, Scripps reported.

“Since 2023, the ‘WNBA Friday Night Spotlight on Ion’ has enhanced the accessibility and reach of WNBA games for fans nationwide,” Scripps President and CEO Adam Symson said. “Our robust partnership with the league has flourished, and we are thrilled to solidify Ion’s status as the premier Friday night destination for WNBA action for years to come.”

This season, Ion is broadcasting the most regular-season games, 50 in total, as part of “WNBA Friday Night Spotlight.” The lineup also includes the “WNBA on Ion Studio Show,” which is the first weekly game broadcast studio show dedicated exclusively to coverage of the league.

The new deal is part of Scripps Sports’ ongoing push to expand its sports broadcasts and operations.

TAMPA BAY, Fla. & CINCINNATI, Ohio—The Tampa Bay Lightning have inked a multi-year media rights agreement with Scripps Sports that gives it rights to produce and distribute all preseason, regular season and first-round playoff Lightning games that are not allocated exclusively to national broadcasts.

Financial terms were not disclosed. The deal is part of Scripps ongoing efforts to expand its sports programming. In the NHL, Scripps Sports also has similar media rights agreements with the Vegas Golden Knights, Florida Panthers and Utah Mammoth.

Scripps, which owns WFTS-ABC Action News serving the Tampa television market, plans to launch a second full-power local station serving the Tampa-St. Petersburg area, WXPX-TV, which will be the broadcast home for the Lightning games.

That station will be branded “The Spot – Tampa Bay 66” and will launch locally on July 1, featuring news and entertainment programming in addition to all locally produced Lightning games.

Scripps is in discussions with cable and satellite distributors to ensure Lightning games on The Spot will be available on cable, satellite as well as over-the-air television.

In addition to the local TV broadcasts, the Lightning and Scripps Sports will be introducing a new, direct-to-consumer experience where Bolts fans can livestream games within the Lightning app throughout the Bolts’ broadcast territory. The streaming offering will use solutions provided by ViewLift.

More details on the streaming offering will be made available prior to the start of the 2025-26 season.

“The Tampa Bay Lightning are one of the best teams in the NHL, and Bolts fans deserve easy access to all their games via cable, satellite, free over-the-air and streaming,” said Brian Lawlor, president of Scripps Sports. “The complement of broadcast television and streaming guarantees that fans can follow the games from their living room or wherever they are in their busy lives. We look forward to sharing many winning moments with one of the league’s most loyal fan bases.”

“We’re excited to announce Scripps Sports as the new media partner of the Tampa Bay Lightning,” said Vinik Sports Group CEO Steve Griggs. “A world-class fan experience starts with access — and fans have made it clear they want it to be easier to find and watch our games. This partnership delivers on that. We’re looking forward to working with Brian Lawlor and the Scripps Sports team to expand our reach and bring the excitement of Lightning hockey to more homes across Tampa Bay. We’re also incredibly grateful to Steve Tello and the FanDuel Sports team for their partnership and the many unforgettable moments we've shared.”

“We are honored to power the streaming experience for the Lightning and expand our support for the NHL and now seven of its teams,” said Rich Allen, CEO of ViewLift, which will be providing technologies for the streaming offering. “We will make it easy for Bolts fans to stream games through their existing Lightning mobile apps and new apps on far more devices, helping the Lightning bring on-ice action and behind-the-scenes information and experiences to fans of all ages, at home or on the move.”

ATLANTA—Coming off last year's inaugural season of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) on ION, Scripps Sports has unveiled production plans and a new studio team for the network's 2025 season coverage, which kicks off March 15.

The NWSL on ION showcases top matches from across the league every Saturday night of the regular season. In the upcoming season the NWSL on ION studio shows—the first-ever weekly studio shows dedicated to the NWSL by any broadcast network—will feature Seb Salazar and Kylen Mills as co-hosts.

Salazar adds ION duties to his work with ESPN, where he regularly appears on ESPN FC, the company's signature soccer program. He has also co-hosted the popular biweekly Fútbol Americas show on ESPN+.

Mills, a former college soccer standout, is an Emmy-nominated sports broadcaster with a resume of on-air work across Fox Sports, NBC Sports, The Big Ten Network and Pac-12 Networks.

"Seb Salazar is an exceptional talent in soccer reporting, bringing a wealth of experience and deep-rooted passion for the game," said Brian Lawlor, president, Scripps Sports. "His work on ESPN and his insightful commentary on Fútbol Americas have made him a trusted voice and a household name among soccer fans. Kylen Mills is a distinguished sportscaster whose extensive on-air analyst experience and deep understanding of soccer from her own time on the pitch make her an invaluable addition to our team. We are delighted to have Seb and Kylen at the helm of our NWSL on ION studio show this season and eagerly anticipate the outstanding coverage and analysis they will bring to viewers."

The Scripps Sports production team is led by Quinn Pacini, vice president of broadcast operations. Nicole Denne, a veteran producer, serves as executive producer for the NWSL on ION's studio content. This year, Taylor Quellman joins as studio show producer. Quellman has been serving as the pre- and post-game producer for Scripps Sports' coverage of Vegas Golden Knights hockey, as well as holding the same role for the San Diego Padres.

Scripps Sports and the NWSL will again co-produce the Saturday night doubleheaders, with two distinct NWSL on ION match broadcast teams – both of which are returning for the network's second season. The team for match one features JP Dellacamera on play-by-play with former U.S. Women's National Team goalkeeper Jill Loyden as analyst. For match two, Maura Sheridan will take the mic for play-by-play duties while former NWSL player Jordan Angeli will serve as analyst.

"In our first season of coverage, ION quickly became a popular home for the NWSL," said Pacini. "We are picking up where we left off with a robust and experienced broadcast team, and we look forward to another great season for NWSL fans across the country."

The NWSL on ION will feature 50 matches across 25 weeks of its Saturday night doubleheaders. The first doubleheader of the season is set for March 15, with 2024 rookie sensation Ally Sentnor and the Utah Royals FC hosting Zambian standout Racheal Kundananji and Bay FC (7:30 p.m. ET), followed by USWNT veteran Rose Lavelle and Gotham FC traveling to Seattle to face former teammate and the NWSL's all-time leading scorer Reign FC forward Lynn (Williams) Biyendolo (10 p.m. ET).

In the run-up to the second season, Scripps also released some viewing figures for the first season on ION:

• In addition to reaching more than 20.5 million total unique viewers, NWSL on ION reached 13.5 million viewers unique to ION.
• ION delivered the largest female percentage audience of any network (57% of the P25-54 audience, 55% of the P2+ audience).
• 50% of all NWSL viewers watched matches on ION, the highest percentage of all linear broadcast partners.
• Matches drew an average audience of 145,000 P2+ per game with a high of 234,000 on July 6 for the Orlando-Kansas City match.
• NWSL matches on ION delivered more than 3.6 million hours of viewing across free ad-supported television (FAST) channels, including Roku, Samsung TV, LG, Vizio, Dumo, Plex, Amazon Fire TV Channels, Pluto, CW and Tablo.

The E.W. Scripps broadcast group recently appointed Kerry Oslund and Christina Hartman to lead the company’s artificial intelligence (AI) strategies. Oslund is the group’s new vice president of AI strategy and Hartman was named vice president of emerging technology operations. Both are new positions and will report to Chief Transformation Officer Laura Tomlin.

In addition, Keith St. Peter, the new director of newsroom artificial intelligence, will lead AI strategy for news and report to Hartman.

TV Tech recently sat down with Kerry to discuss Scripps’ approach to AI.

TV Tech: Congratulations Kerry on the new appointment. Were you asked, or did you lobby for this position?
Kerry Oslund: Both, actually. I’ve been training for this position for over two years now through self-studies, being an evangelist and advocate for where we are moving right now in terms of our company’s AI journey, so yeah, I raised my hand, jumped up and down, and finally, I was given the opportunity, along with a couple of other peers.

TVT: This is the first type of C-level appointment on AI leadership we’ve seen in a station group. What do you hope to accomplish?
KO: This is about everything everywhere all at once, but doing everything everywhere all at once at different speeds with different guardrails. However, depending on what you do, your guardrails are probably going to be a little bit different, and the speed at which we attack the opportunity is going to be different as well, depending on what you do and what the guardrails are. And obviously, you know that the biggest guardrails are going to be around our journalism and our trust and our brand.

TVT: How would you describe how Scripps is using AI right now?
KO: Well, sure, AI is a pretty big and all-encompassing word that’s like the same as physics, right? So what broadcasters haven’t been using is generative AI as part of their everyday business, but that’s changing now, but certainly AI machine learning, all of that has been part of things that we’ve been doing for a long time.

Now, we’re going to generative AI and things change. Obviously, these tools are just remarkable and the speed at which these tools are emerging makes your head spin.

TVT: A lot of people chararcterize generative AI as in its ‘Wild West’ phase. How is Scripps getting out in front of this?
KO: Some would say that, ‘yeah, we’re getting out ahead,’ and others would say that we’re way behind, and we’d both be right, depending on what we're talking about. Scripps has always been an innovative company and we certainly pride ourselves on being on the leading edge. And I think when it comes to responsible use of AI tools, you’re going to see us being on the leading edge of that as well.

TVT: Does Scripps have a mission statement to describe its approach to AI?
KO: Yes, sort of. We certainly started first off with guardrails and guidelines, so there weren’t any missteps, so good people didn't make bad decisions because there hadn’t been guardrails fully explained.

But it all starts with public trust and we’re doing nothing to diminish what we have and what we’ve earned over 140 years in respect to intellectual property—ours and that of others—in terms of accuracy; I don't think you can have public trust without being accurate.

So obviously, there are some challenges, and we are fully behind humans in the loop to make sure that the output is accurate, and for those humans that are in the loop, they are accountable for what happens. And those things are protected; they don't change. Obviously we care deeply about the privacy of our customers and proprietary information—these are important virtues and values.

Has that manifested itself in a strategy statement, yet? No, but I’m working on it. I’ve got a lot of help and we do have the bones of a strategy that are shaping up that I think are going to be pretty easy to understand and will help us move both swiftly and responsibly.

TVT: How are Scripps employees reacting to the company’s approach to AI, especially in terms of job security?
KO: Everybody is super-sensitive to it, but the truth of the matter is that AI is going to affect everybody’s job, whether they lose a job or not. That’s pretty extreme in my mind, but when we are bringing tools that will certainly help with speed and quantity, as long as it doesn’t impact quality, then we’re going to have a balance of time. And what are we going to do with that time? We can either use it to create topside opportunities—which is our preference—take this new time and these new tools and create new products and businesses and services, or find efficiencies in other ways.

And that’s the part that scares everybody—that we don’t initially think that we can create new products, services and new revenue streams. We don’t go there automatically, we go to the other extreme, automatically. But the bottom line is the bottom line, and we’re responsible to it. And it would be super irresponsible not to embrace these tools and see what we can do with them in a way that fits our mission and our brands.

TVT: Do you think, as an industry, broadcasters should work together in regards to their approach towards AI? Or do you think it’s really up to each broadcaster?
KO: It doesn’t always have to be broadcasters, right? I mean, sure, we have some of the same challenges, and it makes sense to work together. We’re working together differently and better than we probably have in the past, and there will be opportunities with AI that we can collaborate on.

Beyond my role at Scripps, I am stepping down from the board of Pearl TV (advocacy group for NextGen TV) to make more time for the ATSC board. And AI is now a new healthy part of the discussion at ATSC, where we’re talking about how we can use that standards body to make it easier for creators and manufacturers—especially when we combine artificial intelligence and ATSC 3.0, all of the magic that can happen and is newly enabled. Some of the stuff we could have done maybe a year ago or two years ago, but we couldn't afford the content expense.

Take translation services, for example. We can do Spanish translation, and we know there’s a large market, and that means that there’s probably a large financial opportunity. But did we do Mandarin? No. Did we do Italian? No. Did we do Polish? No, but it’s from here we can start thinking about that, because that content is readily available to us through AI translation services and that creates really interesting accessibility opportunities for us, and I do believe new revenue opportunities as well.

TVT: Companies like OpenAI are starting to partner with publishers—including Future US, our parent company. Broadcasters have expressed concerns over not being compensated when their intellectual property is being used to train large language models. What’s your response?
KO: That horse has left the barn. The same groups that were asking us to do content deals 6-8 months ago, now, all of a sudden say they don't need it. Why? Well, I think it’s because they already have it. that's what I think.

Look, we’ve had great conversations with some of the large players in the AI space and I do think that there is an opportunity for us, and I would assume with GPT Search, they promise that they want to have a new deal with publishers. We assume that the new deal would be in the form of remuneration, but we’ll see.

We'll talk to consortiums as they want to talk, but we want to be good listeners and seek to understand and then be understood. I just don’t think you can start with a knee-jerk opinion that our content is everything and, and they can't live without us. They've done a pretty good job so far and can live without us.

So I think we have to be realistic: We’ve got great content, it’s worth a bunch, and I do think that we’ll have more opportunities when it comes to to search and surfacing fresh content, than perhaps we will have with our archives and surfacing our archives—although I do believe that there’s a great opportunity to use AI in surfacing our content in our archives and providing that and licensing that to those who want to use it for whatever and it meets our terms of services, and we do a handshake and everybody wins.

TVT: The FCC made an attempt last year to require broadcast political ads that used some form of AI be labeled as such. Where does Scripps come down on this policy?
KO: I don’t know if we’ve put out a policy or a guideline, but I think that clear labeling and transparency is great for trust and therefore we would be fine with that—it’s something we would do without being forced to do it. And I think it’s something we will do. When it comes to our local news and that trust that we’ve gained over the decades, we’re not ceding that to anything by being stupid with the use of AI. Those guardrails are going to be super high, and we're going to be super careful.

Now, where it gets fuzzy is when we have entertainment products; networks like Court TV that do documentaries. In documentaries, particularly in dramatizations when you’re doing graphic recreations, AI does that for us in a better, cheaper way and it’s clearly labeled. When I want to just watch a TV show, that’s all right. But when I’m watching my local news, my guardrails are different; I have a different expectation of my local news operation than I do of one of our entertainment networks.

TVT: Can you tell us how Scripps is implementing AI within its internal operations?
KO: We’ve created something called “The Engine Room,” which basically allows our employees to go and pick a model, either ChatGPT or or Claude—OpenAI or Anthropic. We’ve created our own environment where an employee can go in and they can do prompts and they can get the responses, and that is not going to go out to the LLMs or in any way be leaked to outside of our company.

So we can upload our proprietary documents, and we can then cross-examine our own work using the AI tools in a very safe environment. But here’s the good and bad news in a company like ours that has over 5,000 employees: Most of them are really curious, and they’ve been out there and they’ve been banging on the tools already, right? And so we’d rather give them a safe environment to bang on the tools then say, “Oh man, I could take a shortcut here, I could take this proprietary document, and I could run it through my personal version of ChatGPT, and I could get the answers, get my work done, blah, blah, blah.”

This has been released to fewer than 200 people for the last few months to just sort of get a feel for it, and today, I would say we put it in the wild for the entire company. It’s a great first move for us, but it’s not the last move for us in terms of tool sets, because the tool sets that we'll add in 2025 will be more towards the agentic AI sort of tool sets that are human assistance, pre-prompt populated zones and even some automation. But right now it’s about getting hands on keyboards. If I could do one thing in my first year on this job, it would be taking those who express skepticism into curiosity—I think that would be a huge win. And by the way, skeptics live everywhere, including in the C-suite.

The one thing that I think that happens when you give people the tools is that they start experimenting with this themselves, they become better prompt engineers themselves. They have a ‘light-bulb’ moment—and when that light-bulb moment happens, then the human curiosity is just unleashed.

And so the goal is to take skeptics and turn them into novices. Novices turn then into practitioners, and practitioners turn then into experts. And if we have any experts in our company right now, then my job will be to re-recruit them, because we already have too few, I’m quite certain.

And by the way, we can’t let our customers get out ahead of us when it comes to knowledge, or else we’re going to look like fools. We know that they’re using AI and they know that we’re using AI. We’re already using it in sales, production, like creating spec ads to take out on a first sales call. And I don’t think that we’re being silly or stupid and suggesting that we put in days and days and months and months of work in production. We’re basically saying, ‘This is a rough draft of what your message might look like.’

So I think you can see a lot more on the sales side. I think that every salesperson is going to have an AI sales assistant. I think that is going to be high-priority for us, when it comes to our highest-value content and those revenue pillars you’re going to see us probably focusing on AI first.

CINCINNATI—The E.W. Scripps Co. has announced that it has concluded a new multiyear network affiliation agreement covering all 11 Scripps-owned NBC stations.

The NBC deal follows Scripps’ successful affiliation agreement renewal with CBS last fall, which covered Scripps-owned stations including WTVF Nashville and CBS-affiliated markets in Montana.

The new NBC agreement, effective Jan. 1, 2025, includes WGBA Green Bay, Wisconsin; WTMJ Milwaukee; KRIS Corpus Christi, Texas; KTGF Great Falls, Montana; KTVH Helena, Montana; WLEX Lexington, Kentucky; KOAA Colorado Springs, Colorado; KJRH Tulsa, Oklahoma; KSBY San Luis Obispo, California; WPTV West Palm Beach, Florida; and KSHB Kansas City, Missouri.

“This expanded agreement recognizes our decades-long partnership with NBC as well as the importance of our TV stations in providing trusted local news reporting, emergency weather alerts and community coverage to these markets,” Dean Littleton, Scripps executive vice president, media broadcast operations, said. “Moreover, it illustrates the ongoing strength of the network-affiliate model and the enduring value of our local stations.”

“We look forward to continuing our longstanding relationship with Scripps, bringing their viewers the leading broadcast network and vital entertainment, news and sports content,” NBCUniversal president, affiliate relations Phil Martzolf said. “As we enter 2025 and look forward to exciting programming like the NBA, we will continue to work with our partners to innovate our NBC offerings on behalf of viewers nationwide.”

CINCINNATI—E.W. Scripps has hired veteran cable programmer Adam Harman to lead its programming strategy as senior vice president of programming, effective Dec. 16.

Harman, who has more than 20 years of experience in the media and entertainment landscape, will oversee the programming and content acquisition strategy for Scripps’ portfolio of news and entertainment networks, which include Ion, Court TV, Bounce, Laff, Grit and Scripps News.

“As Scripps continues to evolve its content strategy to connect with audiences and advertisers on every platform, Adam is an ideal leader to steer our programming team,” said Keisha Taylor Starr, Scripps’ chief marketing officer and general manager, Scripps Networks. “Adam has the ability to seek out the bold and impactful content consumers crave, and his industry relationships will help Scripps continue delivering it to our audiences wherever they tune in.”

Harman most recently served as vice president of strategy and acquisitions at A+E Networks, where he spent 11 years shaping the company’s programming and content acquisition strategy through original content development, cross-platform strategy, content investment and deal negotiation. Prior to A+E, Harman led program planning and acquisitions at NBCUniversal’s Style after starting his career at Hallmark Channel.

“The Scripps brand has built tremendous equity through its rich history of innovation and its ability to connect with consumers in a trusted and meaningful way,” Harman said. “Their dedication to a wide range of compelling programming for both audiences and advertisers is something I’m excited to build upon as we work to engage the next generation of media consumers. I’m thrilled to join a team that shares my passion for delivering a top-tier viewer experience while also creating exceptional value and new opportunities for advertisers.”

Harman, who is based in Los Angeles, received a bachelor’s degree in screenwriting and television production from California State University, Northridge. He is also earning his master’s degree in strategic management and executive leadership from Penn State’s Smeal College of Business.

CINCINNATI—E.W. Scripps has promoted Matthew Hijuelos to vice president of distribution, effective Jan. 1. In the new role, he will oversee the team responsible for managing distribution across numerous Scripps platforms, including cable, satellite and virtual pay TV providers as well as multicast spectrum.

Hijuelos, based in New York, replaces Robin Davis, who is retiring from Scripps at the end of the year.

Hijuelos is currently senior director of media distribution for Scripps and is responsible for the strategy, development and execution of multiplatform distribution and monetization partnerships across its national networks, local TV stations, sports and original programming. In this role, he has led Scripps’ streaming distribution efforts and has helped grow the company's annual connected TV advertising revenue, the company said.

“Matt is a respected media and business leader with a track record for successfully managing complex distribution negotiations,” Jason Combs, Scripps chief financial officer, said. “His experience, extensive industry relationships and understanding of our business make him the right person to lead our distribution team.”

Hijuelos has been with Scripps since 2021. He joined the company as part of its acquisition of Ion Media, where he served as vice president of business distribution, leading OTT strategy, partnerships, technology, monetization and analytics for the Ion networks. He previously spent nearly 20 years with Akamai Technologies, the cloud computing company, where he held several leadership positions focused on business development.

Hijuelos began his career as a business analyst at JP Morgan and also worked as a management consultant for KPMG. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business.

TAMPA, Fla.—E.W. Scripps has promoted Teresa Morgan to vice president and general manager of WFTS, its ABC affiliate in Tampa, effective Jan. 1.

Morgan, the station manager and senior director of sales, has been with WFTS since 2003. She started her career at the station as a senior account executive before promotions to local sales manager in 2011 and the director of sales in 2016. She assumed station manager responsibilities in September.

“Teresa has done a tremendous job leading day-to-day operations here in Tampa,” Nick Nicholson, Scripps regional vice president and general manager, said. “She has a deep understanding of all aspects of our WFTS operations, the Tampa market and community. She has achieved strong results in every role she has held and embodies the leadership characteristics that are crucial to guiding the station forward in this fast-changing media environment.”

Prior to joining WFTS, Morgan held positions in sales and community relations at WTVT, also in Tampa. Morgan is actively involved in her community, regularly volunteering with local charities.

Scripps will begin the search for a new WFTS sales director immediately.

CINCINNATI—E.W. Scripps said its the first season of National Women's Soccer League on Ion broadcasts—matches and studio shows—reached more than 20.5 million total unique viewers, including 13.5 viewers unique to the network.

Scripps Sports televised Saturday night doubleheaders on Ion throughout the season, a total of 50 matches—more than any other network—and 53 studio shows. Ion was among the networks involved in a multiyear distribution agreement announced in November 2023 that included CBS Sports, ESPN and Prime Video.

Ion delivered more than 130 hours of NWSL content during the season.

“NWSL fans consistently showed up to watch Ion every week,” Scripps Sports president Brian Lawlor said. “It was an incredible first year. We expect to continue growing the audience and helping the league grow its fan base.”

League officials agreed.

“Our matches on Ion brought incredible NWSL content to fans everywhere,” added Brian Gordon, NWSL senior vice president of broadcast. "Beyond the matches, the ability to go in depth with our athletes and give them a platform to amplify their own stories helped our fans grow an even deeper affinity for the players, clubs and league. We are very proud of our collaboration with Scripps Sports and look forward to continuing our work together next season.”

Other highlights of the audiences on NWSL on Ion included:

• Ion delivered the largest share of female viewers of any network (57% of the P25-54 audience, 55% of the persons 2-plus).
• 50% of all NWSL viewers watched matches on Ion, the highest percentage of all linear broadcast partners.
• Matches drew an average audience of 145,000 viewers 2-plus per game, with a high of 234,000 on July 6 for Orlando-Kansas City.
• NWSL matches on Ion delivered more than 3.6 million hours of viewing across free ad-supported television (FAST) channels, including Roku, Samsung TV, LG, Vizio, Xumo, Plex, Amazon Fire TV Channels, Pluto, The CW and Tablo.
• Scripps Sports formed more than two dozen advertising partnerships, including Capital One as presenting sponsor of “NWSL on Ion Saturday Night Soccer.”

A new study from AdImpact indicates that vast sums are flowing into swing-state broadcasters as more than $1.8 billion has been spent on political ads in the presidential races between Super Tuesday on March 5 and election day Nov. 5.

Overall, the study found that $2.6 billion had been spent on political ads since March 5 and overall spending was highest in Pennsylvania, with Democrats airing $261.9 million in ads and Republicans airing $232.4 million.

The data, which is based on AdImpact tracking 384 unique broadcast political ads that aired some 1.5 million times during the period, reinforces data from recent earnings reports from station groups, as Scripps reported record Q3 revenue based on record levels of political advertising, and a study from The Myers Report, which estimates U.S. political ad spending for the 2024 campaign will top $12 billion.

The $12 billion figure—a 33% increase over the 2019-2020 election campaign—is part of an overall estimate of $18.2 billion that will be spent on reported and unreported political marketing investments during this election cycle, according to the Myers Report.

The massive spending levels in swing states are particularly evident the data for the last 60 days.

The AdImpact study found in the last 60 days alone, Pennsylvania led among the swing states with $264 million spent by presidential candidates and the groups backing them, followed by Michigan ($151 million), Georgia ($137 million), North Carolina ($109 million) and Arizona ($91 million).

Since July 22, Democratic groups spent $1.37 billion overall on the presidential race, giving them a $171 million advantage over Republican groups, with the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris campaign spending $646.3 million versus $358.8 million by the campaign of former Preasident Donald Trump.

AdImpact also found that digital spending for political ads since July 22 hit $420 million, making up 18% of total presidential-campaign spending. Outside of X (formerly Twitter), Democratic advertisers have held significant spending advantages across social media platforms, the researcher said.

CINCINNATI—The E.W. Scripps Co. said it produced record revenue of $646 million in Q3 2024, driven by record spending on political advertising.

In addition, the company said it now expects full-year political advertising revenue to reach at least $340 million, which, combined with its efforts to control and reduce its expenses, has allowed it to reduce debt.

In its third-quarter results, Scripps also said \it had $33 million, or 37 cents per share, in income.

“Scripps’ Local Media political advertising revenue came in nearly 30% higher than our last presidential-election year political revenue, which also was a record year,” Scripps President and CEO Adam Symson said. “This 2024 level is a testament to the durability of local broadcast programming as the perfect vehicle for massive reach to deliver candidate and political action committee messaging. Our local news has always been a go-to for political advertising. This time around, our sports programming created significant additional opportunities for campaigns to efficiently and effectively reach voters, further boosting our political advertising revenue.”

The new estimate of total 2024 presidential-year political advertising revenue in the Local Media division of a record $340 million, far exceeds the guidance of $270 million to $290 million Scripps issued in August.

The results were driven by strong advertising buys with Scripps stations in Arizona, Michigan, Montana, Ohio, Nevada and Wisconsin. The political advertising demand caused significant displacement of core advertising in those 15 markets, which prompted declines in core advertising.

In the Scripps Networks division, tight expense management resulted in a nearly 4% decline in expenses. For the fourth quarter, Scripps expects an even greater decline in Networks expense, down in the high single-digits percent range, because of reductions at Scripps News and ongoing cost controls.

Scripps also touted the success of Ion’s Friday-night WNBA franchise, with telecasts surpassing more than 1 million viewers this past season. Ion’s average WNBA ratings more than doubled from last season, proving the platform’s value in attracting key demos with live sports. The top-performing night was the Aug. 30 Indiana Fever-Chicago Sky game, which drew an average audience of 1.6 million viewers and peaked at 2 million. Scripps’ full-season 2024 WNBA revenue was double that of the 2023 season.

The company paid down $115 million of debt in the third quarter, ending the period with a leverage ratio of 5.1 times, a significant improvement from 6 times at the end of Q2. The company will pay down about $300 million in debt this year.

Total third-quarter company revenue was $646 million, an increase of 14% or $79.8 million from the prior-year quarter. Costs and expenses for segments, shared services and corporate were $472 million, up from $469 million in the year-ago quarter.

Income attributable to the shareholders of Scripps was $33 million or 37 cents per share. Pretax costs for the quarter included a $12.7 million restructuring charge, decreasing the income attributable to shareholders by 11 cents per share. In the prior-year quarter, the loss attributable to shareholders was $16.2 million or 19 cents per share. The pre-tax costs for the prior-year quarter included $4.7 million in restructuring costs.

For its Local Media division, including its TV stations, revenue was $446 million, up 26% from the prior-year quarter. Core advertising revenue decreased 9.2% to $129 million, due in part to displacement from political advertising. Political revenue was $125 million, compared to $9.1 million in the prior-year quarter, a nonelection year. Distribution revenue was $186 million, compared to $198 million in the prior-year quarter. Segment expenses increased 2.4% to $285 million. Segment profit was $161 million, compared to $75 million in the year-ago quarter.

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J.—LG Electronics USA has launched a dedicated section for news called “News Hub” on LG Channels that provides weather reports, and local and national news broadcasts from national news organizations and local stations.

The offering includes ABC News Live, CNN Headlines, LiveNOW from Fox, NBC News Now, Scripps News and local news from stations owned by Allen Media Group's Local Now, E.W. Scripps, Fox Television Stations, Sinclair and others.

Starting in key market areas, including Austin, Texas; Washington; Salt Lake City, Utah; Cincinnati; Las Vegas; Baltimore; Seattle and many more, LG Channels said it will continually expand its delivery of regional news channels to U.S. consumers.

LG Channels is LG's free streaming service, offering a wide selection of premium live and on-demand programming. LG Channels is available on LG Smart TVs (models 2016-present) through the set maker’s webOS and can easily be accessed by pressing the dedicated key on the LG Magic Remote or via the home screen.

The full list of LG Channels local stations includes:

• Allen Media Group's Local Now: Local Now Chicago; Local Now L.A.; Local Now San Francisco; Local Now Phoenix; Local Now Philly; Local Now Houston; Local Now Detroit; Local Now D.C.; Local Now Orlando; Local Now Charlotte; Local Now Tampa; Local Now Minneapolis; Local Now Seattle; Local Now Boston; Local Now Raleigh; Local Now Indy; Local Now Cleveland; Local Now Austin; Local Now Dallas; Local Now Portland; Local Now Columbus; Local Now Denver; Local Now Hartford; Local Now San Antonio; Local Now West Palm Beach; Local Now Long Island; Local Now Chattanooga; Local Now Tulsa; Local Now Tucson; Local Now Wichita; Local Now Manhattan; Local Now Buffalo; Local Now Boise; Local Now Des Moines; Local Now Omaha; Local Now Savannah; Local Now Tallahassee; Local Now San Jose; Local Now El Paso; Local Now Wilmington; Local Now Macon; Local Now Florence; Local Now Shreveport; Local Now Paducah; Local Now Augusta; Local Now Davenport; Local Now Midland; Local Now Tyler; Local Now Beckley; Local Now Abilene; Local Now Sherman; Local Now Billings, Montana; Local Now Monterey; Local Now Roswell New Mexico; Local Now Marquette; Local Now Columbus, Georgia; Local Now Rochester MN; Local Now Charleston, South Carolina; Local Now Albany, Georgia; Local Now Springfield IL; Local Now Yakima; Local Now Johnstown; Local Now Cheyenne; Local Now Watertown; Local Now Nashville; Local Now Vegas; Local Now Sacramento; Local Now Greenville; Local Now Baltimore; Local Now KC; Local Now Jacksonville; Local Now SLC; Local Now San Diego; Local Now Norfolk; Local Now Milwaukee; Local Now Cincinnati; Local Now Pittsburgh; Local Now Greensboro; Local Now OKC; Local Now Louisville; Local Now Birmingham; Local Now Memphis; Local Now Knoxville; Local Now Newburgh; Local Now Mobile; Local Now Hagerstown; Local Now Wilkes-Barre; Local Now Little Rock; Local Now Harrisburg; Local Now Fort Myers; Local Now Grand Rapids; Local Now Albuquerque; Local Now Columbia; Local Now Huntsville; Local Now Richmond; Local Now Dayton; Local Now Lexington; Local Now Albany NY; Local Now Providence; Local Now New Orleans; Local Now Spokane; Local Now Roanoke; Local Now Fresno; Local Now Colorado Springs; Local Now Green Bay; Local Now Waco; Local Now Toledo; Local Now Bristol; Local Now Fort Smith; Local Now Marietta; Local Now South Bend; Local Now Springfield, Missouri; Local Now Fort Wayne; Local Now Flint; Local Now Baton Rouge; Local Now Panama City; Local Now Madison; Local Now Jackson, Mississippi; Local Now Syracuse; Local Now Evansville; Local Now Youngstown; Local Now Peoria; Local Now Burlington; Local Now Eugene; Local Now Cedar Rapids; Local Now Gainesville; Local Now Lafayette, Louisiana; Local Now Biloxi; Local Now Sioux Falls; Local Now Lansing; Local Now Plano; Local Now Brownsville; Local Now Binghamton; Local Now Montgomery; Local Now Reno; Local Now Duluth; Local Now Fargo; Local Now Lincoln; Local Now Corpus Christi; Local Now Downtown Denver; Local Now Tupelo; Local Now Flagstaff; Local Now Charlottesville; Local Now La Crosse; Local Now White Plains; Local Now Traverse City; Local Now Bergen County; Local Now Topeka; Local Now Salisbury; Local Now Bakersfield; Local Now Erie; Local Now Rockford; Local Now Wichita Falls; Local Now Dothan; Local Now DeSoto; Local Now Amarillo; Local Now Honolulu; Local Now Terre Haute; Local Now Wausau; Local Now Beaumont; Local Now Bangor; Local Now Santa Barbara; Local Now Anchorage; Local Now Medford; Local Now Aurora; Local Now Lubbock; Local Now Bismarck; Local Now Utica; Local Now Grand Junction; Local Now Clarksburg; Local Now Monroe; Local Now Joplin; Local Now Sioux City; Local Now Missoula; Local Now Bowling Green; Local Now Parkersburg; Local Now Idaho Falls; Local Now Redding; Local Now Jonesboro; Local Now Irving; Local Now Rapid City; Local Now Washington Park; Local Now Hattiesburg; Local Now Midtown; Local Now Casper; Local Now Stapleton; Local Now Quincy; Local Now Lake Charles; Local Now Yuma; Local Now Bend; Local Now Victoria; Local Now Butte; Local Now Mankato; Local Now Alexandria; Local Now Great Falls; Local Now Meridian; Local Now Twin Falls; Local Now San Angelo; Local Now Alpena; Local Now Ottumwa; Local Now Decatur; Local Now Laredo; Local Now Eureka; Local Now Fairbanks; Local Now Juneau; Local Now Glendive; Local Now; Local Now Greenville, North Carolina; Local Now Columbia, Missouri; Local Now Springfield, Massachusetts; Local Now St. Louis; Local Now Portland, Maine; Local Now Atlanta; Local Now Miami; Local Now Charleston; Local Now Rochester, New York; Local Now Roswell; Local Now Lafayette; Local Now Helena; Local Now North Platte; Local Now New York; and Local Now Jackson.
• Optimum: News 12 New York
• E.W. Scripps: KATC Acadiana, Louisiana; KBZK Bozeman, Montana; 23ABC News Kern County, California; ABC 10 News San Diego, California; KGUN Tucson, Arizona; Idaho News 6; 2 News Oklahoma; Denver 7; 3 News Now Omaha, Nebraska; ABC 15 Arizona; KOAA Colorado Springs, Colorado; KPAX Missoula, Montana; KRIS Corpus Christi, Texas; KRTV Great Falls, Montana; KSBY News Central Coast California; KSHB Kansas City Missouri; Fox 13 News Salt Lake City Utah; 13 Action News Las Vegas; KTVH, Helena Montana; Q2 News Billings, Montana; 25 News Waco, Texas; WCPO Cincinnati; WEWS Cleveland; ABC Action News Tampa, Florida; Fox 4 News Fort Myers, Florida; NBC 26 News Green Bay and Northeast Wisconsin; WKBW Buffalo, New York; LEX 18 News Lexington, Kentucky; WMAR Baltimore; WPTV West Palm Beach, Florida; WRTV Indianapolis; FOX 47 News Lansing-Jackson, Michigan; WTKR Norfolk, Virginia; WTMJ Milwaukee; News Channel 5 Nashville, Tennessee; CBS 6 News Richmond, Virginia; ABC 27 News Tallahassee, Florida; Fox 17 News Grand Rapids, Michigan; WXYZ Detroit.
• Fox Television Stations: Fox 13 Tampa Bay, Fox 5 Washington, Fox 35 Orlando, Fox 5 New York, Fox 6 Milwaukee, Fox 32 Chicago, Fox 5 Atlanta, Fox 11 Los Angeles, Fox 7 Austin, Fox 26 Houston, Fox 4 Dallas/Ft. Worth, Fox 13 Seattle, Fox 29 Philadelphia, Fox 2 KTVU (Bay Area), Fox 10 Phoenix, Fox 2 Detroit and Fox 9 Minneapolis.
• Sinclair Broadcast Group: KEYE Austin, Texas; KATU Portland, Oregon; WJLA Washington; WBFF Baltimore; WKRC Cincinnati; WSYX Columbus, Ohio; KOMO Seattle; KUTV Salt Lake City, Utah; KOKH Oklahoma City; WPEC, West Palm Beach, Florida; WOAI San Antonio; WWMT Grand Rapids, Michigan; WHP Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; WJAR Providence, Rhode Island; WLOS Asheville, North Carolina; KSNV Las Vegas; WPDE Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; KMPH Fresno, California; WLUK Green Bay, Wisconsin; WKEF Dayton, Ohio; WCIV Charleston, South Carolina; KDBC El Paso, Texas; WJAC Johnstown, Pennsylvania; WTOV Steubenville, Ohio; and WSBT South Bend, Ind.
  
  
  
  

New data from Scripps Sports provides fresh evidence of a rapidly growing interest in women’s sports, with average viewership for the State Farm WNBA Friday Night Spotlight on ION in 2024 increasing by 133% compared to 2023. Overall, the network attracted 23.37 million unique viewers across games and wrap shows as the male audience (ages 25-54) grew 181%.

The E.W. Scripps Company and the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) recently completed the second year of a multi-year agreement to televise weekly double-headers in primetime on Fridays during the regular season on ION, a national sports and entertainment broadcast network that reaches every U.S. TV household over-the-air and on all major pay TV and connected TV services.

ION broadcast a WNBA-high 43 regular-season games and a league-high 67 hours of WNBA regular-season content. This year ION also added a studio show that aired before, in-between and sometimes after games. Scripps Sports also unveiled a new studio designed and built, in part, specifically for ION on WNBA studio shows.

Highlights of "WNBA Friday Night Spotlight on ION" Season 2:

• WNBA games on ION averaged 670,000 P2+ viewers, a 133% increase from 2023.
• Of the total reach of 23.37 million – up from 12.3 million last year – 9.46 million viewers P2+ only watched games on ION. (One-minute qualifier Live+SD; excludes repeat broadcasts and ESPND)
• 7 telecasts exceeded an average of 1 million viewers, topped by the Aug. 30 games between the Indiana Fever and Chicago Sky, a national broadcast, and the Minnesota Lynx and Dallas Wings, a local broadcast, which together drew an average of 1.6 million and peaked at 1.92 million.
• ION delivered the largest percentage of female audience of any network airing WNBA games this season – 50% of the ION P18-49 audience was female and 45% of the P2+ audience was female.
• ION delivered more than 3.7 million hours of viewing across the season, including via Roku, Samsung TV+, LG, Vizio, Xumo, Plex, Amazon Fire Channels, Pluto, CW and Tablo.
• Scripps added more than 20 new advertisers as ratings surged in the second year of WNBA broadcasts on ION.
• The WNBA on ION social media saw strong year-over-year growth, generating 100 million+ impressions on Instagram, X and Facebook through collaborations with players, teams and the league.

"This season was a big step forward for the WNBA and its players in terms of exposure both in arenas and on television," said Brian Lawlor, Scripps Sports president. "It was so fun to watch the momentum build throughout the season. Scripps is thrilled to have played a part in that."

"We are incredibly pleased with the success of our partnership with Scripps Sports, which has played a pivotal role in amplifying the reach and visibility of the WNBA season," said WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert. "Through this partnership, we've been able to showcase great basketball with a broader audience, deepening the connection between the league, the players and our growing fanbase while delivering record-breaking viewership numbers."

CINCINNATI—The E.W. Scripps Company (NASDAQ: SSP) has promoted Sean Franklin to vice president and general manager for WLEX, the Scripps-owned NBC affiliate in Lexington, Kentucky, effective Sept. 16.

Franklin has served as the station's director of engineering since 2019, overseeing the engineering and production departments and serving on the station's leadership team.

Prior to his current role, Franklin was vice president of engineering for Cordillera Communications, leading a 12-station engineering group from October 2015 until Scripps acquired the station in 2019. He previously was an operations manager at WLEX and began his career at the station as a production manager.  

"Sean is an accomplished and respected local media leader who has a deep understanding of WLEX, the Lexington market and Scripps operations," said Lyn Plantinga, regional vice president and general manager. "His move is a great example of the culture of employee growth and development we are cultivating at Scripps. I look forward to this next chapter for him, and I know our Lexington teams are in great hands."  

Franklin graduated from Morehead State University in Kentucky with a bachelor's degree in broadcasting.   

SUNRISE, Fla. and NEW YORK—The reigning NHL Stanley Cup Champions, the Florida Panthers, have announced a multi-year deal with ViewLift, a leading digital content distribution and monetization platform, to launch a new direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming service. This service will allow Panthers fans to stream all locally-available games live on major devices, including web, mobile, and connected TV platforms.

ViewLift, already a provider of streaming tech and services to the NHL, and its platform is used by Vegas Golden Knights and Washington Capitals. 

The Panthers previously announced that Scripps would air locally produced games over the air on three broadcast stations in Florida. 

In collaboration with Scripps Sports, which will distribute games via local stations WSFL (channel 39), WHDT (9) and a to-be-announced Fort Myers station, the new streaming service is part of the team’s plans to strengthen fan engagement with multiple viewing options. 

As part of that effort, during the upcoming season, every locally-produced game will stream live on new apps and air on broadcast over-the-air.

"We are thrilled to partner with ViewLift to offer our fans a premier streaming experience," said Mark Zarthar, chief strategy officer of the florida Panthers. "Our goal is to increase accessibility and ensure that all Panthers fans have access anytime and anywhere to view our games, and with Scripps Sports' and ViewLift's expertise, we're confident our new distribution will do just that."

The new streaming service will launch in time for the upcoming season, with additional features and content announcements to follow. ViewLift will create Panthers-branded properties across multiple platforms. The Panthers' streaming service will deliver live games, on-demand content, and more, enhancing the overall fan experience.

"South Florida means more than great beaches and top nightlife – it now is also home to the world's best hockey team," said Rick Allen, CEO of ViewLift. "We're honored to be the Panthers' streaming partner, and together with our friends at Scripps Sports, reach more fans in the team's region than ever before. Viewing at home or on the go will now be as fast and flowing as the Cats are."

The Florida Panthers will leverage ViewLift's streaming platform to streamline content delivery, fan-engagement, personalization, and marketing campaigns, as well as maximize monetization opportunities through flexible business models. Additionally, the team will benefit from real-time analytics tracking performance across every OTT device, allowing for continuous improvement of the fan experience.