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E.W. Scripps Reports 4Q Loss of $603,000 (Dinosaur Media Extinction Alert)
Yahoo!Finance ^ | Feb 2, 2006 | Staff

Posted on 02/02/2006 7:46:58 PM PST by abb

Thursday February 2, 5:44 pm ET E.W. Scripps Posts Fourth-Quarter Loss of $603,000 on Costs; Shares Rise 4.2 Percent

CINCINNATI (AP) -- The E.W. Scripps Co., a newspaper publisher and owner of the Food Network, Home & Garden Television and other cable networks, swung to a loss in the fourth quarter on costs for writing down its Shop At Home unit and consolidating newspaper operations in Denver.

Scripps lost $603,000 during the quarter, but broke even on a per-share basis. That compares to earnings in the year-ago quarter of $91.3 million, or 55 cents per share. Revenue grew 17 percent to $706.8 million from $606.7 million.

Scripps blamed the loss on a big write-down for Shop At Home, which sells consumer goods directly to television viewers and visitors to its Web site. Excluding that charge, Scripps said it would have earned 54 cents per share.

The company said its loss also includes the effect of a decision earlier in the year to consolidate newspaper production operations in Denver, costing 4 cents per share.

Analysts expected Scripps to post a quarterly profit of 49 cents per share, excluding one-time items such as charges, according to Thomson Financial.

Scripps' shares rose $2, or 4.2 percent, to close at $50.25 in trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Scripps said it had to write down the book value of Shop At Home because of the unit's ongoing losses and "a longer than previously expected path to profitability." Scripps said it is in the process of exploring strategic alternatives for the struggling business. The unit lost $10.4 million in the quarter.

The newspaper division's profit was $55.4 million in quarter compared with $69.1 million a year ago, with the decline attributed to higher depreciation expenses for equipment at the Denver operations.

The company's cable networks division, however, which includes HGTV, Food Network, DIY Network and others, turned in another strong quarter, reporting a gain of 34 percent in profits over the 2004 quarter.

Scripps also said its Shopzilla unit, an online comparison shopping service that Scripps acquired in June 2005, performed well.

For the full year, earnings fell 18 percent to $249.2 million, or $1.51 per share, down from $303.8 million, or $1.84 per share, in 2004. Annual revenue increased 16 percent to $2.51 billion from $2.17 billion.

Looking ahead, Scripps forecast first-quarter earnings of 38 cents to 42 cents per share, compared to the consensus analyst estimate of 44 cents per share


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: cabletv; dinosaurmedia; ewscripps; foodnetwork; hgtv; media; msm; newspapers; oldmedia
If this trend keeps up, we're gonna have to construct a sort of "Jurrasic Park" in which to store all the fossilized remains of newspapers...
1 posted on 02/02/2006 7:47:01 PM PST by abb
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To: abb

The only sad thing about Scripps keeling over is that it sponsors the National Spelling Bee competition. I'd hate to lose the Bee. The rest of the operation can shrivel up and blow away.


2 posted on 02/02/2006 7:56:19 PM PST by RedRover (Run, Cindy, run! Look, Freepers, look! Funny, funny Cindy!)
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To: abb
Well, as least Scripps has read the handwriting on the wall to the extent that they've diversified into cable TV.

No such luck for Bowater, whose main deal is the manufacture of newsprint. Here's a two-year look:


3 posted on 02/02/2006 7:56:55 PM PST by southernnorthcarolina (I've upped my standards! Up yours!)
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To: RedRover
I was 2nd place in my county spelling bee when I was just a wee lad. I wish more ADULT Americans could spell. Tis a good thing.

I also really like the Food Network. They can get rid of Shop at Home, all the paper rags. Just killin' trees for old news. I won't lose any sleep.

4 posted on 02/02/2006 8:01:18 PM PST by Sender (As water has no constant form, there are in war no constant conditions. -Sun Tzu)
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To: abb

Half a million $$$ is chump change for Scripps. They're doing just fine.


5 posted on 02/02/2006 8:07:22 PM PST by Bernard Marx (Don't make the mistake of interpreting my Civility as Servility)
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To: abb
The E.W. Scripps Co., a newspaper publisher and owner of the Food Network, Home & Garden Television and other cable networks...

If my wife's viewing habits are any indication, I'd say they're going broke because of incompetent management. I don't know how she can watch some giggling dingbat judge fish eye soup on "The Iron Chef" or some fruitcake paint someone's floor purple day after day after day - but she does.

Does anyone else have a wife that's addicted to "Trading Spaces" and the like? Are you an addict yourself? If so, acknowledge your disease here and now......you'll be taking your first step towards recovery.
6 posted on 02/02/2006 8:23:31 PM PST by Jaysun (The plain truth is that I am not a fair man, and don't want to hear both sides.)
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To: abb

I recently canceled my subscription to the Rocky Mountain News because they forced me to take delivery of that liberal rag Denver Post on Sundays and sometimes on Wednesdays. I got tired of the charade that they are two different papers.


7 posted on 02/02/2006 8:32:59 PM PST by SaxxonWoods (Regime change in Iran and Syria is required, and required now.)
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To: Sender
I also really like the Food Network.

Yeah, without my daily Giada De Laurentis and Rachel Ray fix(as well as Alton Brown's show...), I'm going to be one cranky cook.
8 posted on 02/02/2006 8:38:15 PM PST by Dr.Zoidberg (Mohammedism - Bringing you only the best of the 6th century for fourteen hundred years.)
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To: RedRover

But they blame their losses on their holdings in the new media (shop at home cable TV)...not everyone can do it right.

Or does someone suspect juggling the books?


9 posted on 02/02/2006 8:46:24 PM PST by scrabblehack
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To: Dr.Zoidberg
Last fall I stopped by a local oriental grocery store in Atlanta to pick up ramen and misc. There, to my surprise, was Alton Brown and his entire crew...doing a segment from inside the store.

I got to talk to him for a couple of minutes and walk the aisles. Kewl dude, very smart.

10 posted on 02/02/2006 9:10:07 PM PST by Sender (As water has no constant form, there are in war no constant conditions. -Sun Tzu)
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To: abb
Kewl. Yet another new trophy to add to my shrine to Old Media. :) A work of FReeper performance art known as Got them Old Media Circulation Blues inspired by an ancient axiom that bad news sells. ;)

E.W. Scripps Reports 4Q Loss of $603,000 (Dinosaur Media Extinction Alert) - 02/02/2006
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TIMES' 4Q PROFIT OFF (attributes costs of 500 job cuts) - 12/22/2005
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L.A. Times Drags on Tribune Revenue (200 *more* layoffs expected) - 12/02/2005
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Time Inc. Gets A U.S. Subpoena About Circulation - 09/24/2005
Denver papers use liberal rules to boost circulation - 08/08/2005
Advertisers Sue 'Minneapolis Star Tribune' Over Circulation Inflation - 06/29/2005
Arrests made in Newsday circulation scandal - 06/16/2005
Los Angeles Times Reports March Circulation (Down, down, down) - 05/02/2005
Belo Begins Refunding Advertisers Over Inflated Circulation Figures (Texas) - 05/02/2005
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Tribune Company (LA Times parent) Admits Inflated Circulation Numbers At Two Papers - 06/23/2004
11 posted on 02/02/2006 9:33:58 PM PST by Milhous (Sarcasm - the last refuge of an empty mind.)
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