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Headquarters:
312 Walnut St. Website: http://www.scripps.com The E. W. Scripps Company is a diverse media concern with interests in newspaper publishing, broadcast television stations and syndication.
Scripps operates daily and community newspapers in 13 markets, and 19 broadcast TV stations.
Scripps also operates Scripps Howard News Service and United Media, the worldwide syndication home of Dilbert, Marmaduke and 150 other features and characters.
Top newspapers owned by Scripps include the Commercial Appeal in Memphis, TN, Knoxville (TN) News-Sentinel and Ventura County (CA) Star. The company also runs the Scripps National Spelling Bee with more than 250 sponsoring newspapers and 10 million youngsters taking part each year. The Spelling Bee is operated on a not-for-profit basis. The company spun off its 5 cable networks and 2 online sites into a separate company called Scripps Interactive in 2008. The E.W. Scripps acquired nine television stations from McGraw-Hill Broadcasting in 2011 for $212 million. The purchased assets include ABC-affiliated stations in Denver, Indianapolis, San Diego and Bakersfield, CA, and five stations affiliated with the Spanish-language Azteca America network in Colorado and southern California. The company reported revenues of $728.6 million in 2011 and net loss of $15.6 million. History The Early Years (1878-1934) In 1878 Edward W. Scripps borrowed $10,000
from his brothers to help launch America's first information
revolution. With the loan, the young entrepreneur founded a newspaper
in Cleveland aimed at an emerging - but yet unserved - mass audience
of urban workers. "The Penny Press," named for
its affordable price, was clear, concise and politically independent.
It quickly became the model for the nation's first mass medium. From Cleveland, Scripps took the formula
to dozens of other cities, building one of the first newspaper
chains under common ownership. In 1907, his independent spirit led Scripps
to challenge the Associated Press, which at the time struck exclusive
agreements with only one newspaper in each market, thereby discouraging
the launch of competing newspapers. Scripps responded with United
Press International. The service was available to all and became
a leading force in worldwide journalism for decades to come. Scripps also nurtured a syndicated features
service, initially built around the writing of his sister, into
a licensing and syndication company that thrives today as United
Media. In the early 1920s, Scripps added "Howard"
to the company's operating name to recognize the growing contribution
of Roy W. Howard, an aggressive young newsman who rose to become
president and chairman of the concern. The Advent and Development of Broadcasting (1935-1980) At the urging of Jack R. Howard, Roy's
son and later his successor, the company took advantage of America's
next information revolution by launching radio stations in the
1930s, then some of the country's first local television stations
in the 1940s. Two of the company's first TV stations are still
among its most successful: WEWS in Cleveland, whose call letters
were selected to match the founder's initials and WCPO in Cincinnati,
named for its affiliation with The Cincinnati Post. In 1950, Scripps launched Charles Schulz's
comic strip, "Peanuts." Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the
rest of the group quickly worked their way into the funny pages
of more than 2,000 newspapers around the world. During the 1950s, and continuing through
the 1980s, Scripps solidified its position as one of the most
successful newspaper publishers of the post-war era, and built
its reputation as a leading operator of local television stations. Cable Television Systems (1981-1990) In the early 1980s, in an effort to develop
a profit source that wasn't dependent upon advertising, Scripps
began buying and building cable television systems, eventually
becoming one of America's largest cable operators. In 1988, for the first time in the company's
history, the Scripps family sold stock to the public. Shares
of The E. W. Scripps Company opened in the public market at $8
(adjusted for a 2:1 split in 2004). New Technology Leads to New Media
Opportunities (1991-2000) In the 1990s, to take advantage of the
changes in technology and new media opportunities, Scripps began
to direct its free cash flow to investments in information and
entertainment content. In 1994 Scripps purchased Cinetel Productions,
a Knoxville-based creator of programming for cable, and announced
plans to launch Home & Garden Television. In response to a trend toward consolidation
within the cable system industry and a changing market, the cable
TV systems were sold to Comcast in 1996 and the value was distributed
directly to the company's shareholders. Scripps Grows as a Diverse Media
Company in The New Millennium
(2001 and beyond) Building on the success of HGTV, Scripps
acquired or launched additional lifestyle television networks.
Food Network was brought into the fold and, like HGTV, is now
in more than 90 million U.S. television households. The company
started the DIY Network and Fine Living, and acquired GAC to
round out a five-network portfolio that topped a billion dollars
in revenue in 2006. Scripps Networks continues to launch niche
broadband channels that extend the core brands' presence on the
Internet with advertiser-supported, on-demand content. In 2005 Scripps acquired Shopzilla, an
online comparison shopping service that creates a market of tens
of millions of products offered by more than 85,000 merchants.
UK-based uSwitch, an online comparison service focusing on essential
home services, was acquired with the intention that its business
model could be exported to other geographic markets. Shopzilla
and uSwitch form the company's newest reporting segment -- the
Interactive Media Division -- and have helped propel Scripps
to a top-15 ranking on the list of the world's largest companies
on the Web (based on unique visitors). On July 1, 2008, the five cable networks and the two online comparison shopping services split off into a publicly traded company: Scripps Networks Interactive (NYSE: SNI). Shares in the new company were distributed to Scripps shareholders on a one-for-one basis in the form of a dividend. Updated October 2, 2012
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