The E.W. Scripps Company
Political advertising revenue at Scripps' television stations in the fourth quarter of 2012 was "higher than the full-year political total reported in any previous year," the company said in an earnings report Tuesday. Local and national advertising revenue was up as well; local advertising brought in nearly as much as political ads did. All that cash led to a dramatic gain in segment profit for Scripps' stations in the fourth quarter: "$65.3 million, compared with $23.2 million in the year-ago period," the release said.

At Scripps' newspapers, which include The Commercial Appeal and the Knoxville News Sentinel, circulation and print-ad revenue were down, and digital revenue scratched a small gain. (more...)

The E.W. Scripps Company
Political advertising partly accounted for a 52 percent gain in television revenue in the second quarter compared to the year before, the E.W. Scripps Company announced in its earnings report Tuesday. Revenues at Scripps' newspapers were down 4.7 percent over the second quarter of 2011. Expenses, including the cost of acquiring McGraw-Hill's television stations at the end of 2011, were up 8.1 percent.

At the company's newspapers, no revenue segment posted a gain. Circulation revenue declined 3.7 percent, print advertising was down 7.2 percent and digital revenue was down 3.3 percent. Scripps attributed the latter to "softness in employment advertising and a deliberate decision to eliminate the sale of certain low-margin digital products," and noted mobile page views were up 8 percent. (Though, as my coworker Rick Edmonds has written, monetizing mobile traffic remains a challenge for publishers.)

Scripps has $167 million in cash and cash equivalents, and $204 million in debt. Interest payments were about $3.2 million. The company says it expects to reduce newspaper costs "in the low- to mid-single digits" over the next half of 2012 and expects newspaper revenues to decline by a similar percentage.

Related: What Wall Street Journal, Murdoch papers can learn from Scripps, Belo splits

TV NewsCheck
E.W. Scripps' $212 million purchase of nine McGraw-Hill's TV stations brings Scripps' broadcast reach to 13 percent of TV homes in U.S., TV NewsCheck reports. Scripps CEO Rich Boehne said the company decided to invest in broadcast because "it is a strong local media model that benefits from the larger TV eco-system around it. ... With a license, a share of valuable spectrum, required carriage on cable systems and long-term programming partnerships, broadcast stations are good businesses today with attractive options for creating more value in the future." The addition of the McGraw-Hill stations adds more ABC affiliates to Scripps' roster and gives the company an entry point into the Spanish-language marketplace. The first order of business: improving the ratings of McGraw-Hill newscasts. "That's the biggest upside to drive revenue through the organization," said Brian Lawlor, senior vice president of television for Scripps. || Related: Wells Fargo analyst says price is a positive sign for TV industry (TV NewsCheck) | Media General's stock price falls after Moody's downgrades rating (Reuters)

Romenesko+ Memos | paidContent.org
Chris Doyle, who left his Naples Daily News publisher post in April 2010 to become vice president of content for the newspaper division at E.W. Scripps Co., resigned from Scripps last week. "We have no choice but to figure out how to improve our journalism and quality content while reducing our costs and at the same time discovering new revenue streams," he writes in his farewell memo to colleagues. "Think of my departure as removing some more overhead from the operation. I'm leaving the island, to use the Easter Island analogy I have overused." (more...)

Romenesko Misc.
The publisher of the Commercial Appeal in Memphis, the Knoxville News Sentinel, and other newspapers (it owns TV stations, too) tells employees that "while the use of social media enhances the company’s commitment to providing a vast array of information to our local communities on a variety of platforms (including blogs, Facebook and Twitter), the use of the broad array of social media by Scripps employees requires special attention."

If your personal account contains material that could reflect badly on Scripps, its business operations or your colleagues, or is contrary to Scripps policies, you may be asked to remove your affiliation with Scripps from the personal account or be otherwise disciplined, including termination. The possibility of disciplinary action is not intended to limit your use of social media, but clarify the company's position regarding egregious behavior.

The entire E.W. Scripps Social Media Policy is after the jump. (more...)

Cincinnati Business Courier
Scripps says in a release that "we deeply appreciate his service," but doesn't say why Mark Contreras was removed as newspapers senior vice president. Scripps CEO Rich Boehne will serve as the acting head of the newspaper division until a permanent executive is named to run the company’s group of daily papers in 13 markets. In 2007, Contreras told his employees that reports of the newspaper industry's demise were "bunk," and encouraged them "to approach your work with the attitude that our best days are ahead of us, not behind us." Last year he served as chairman of the Newspaper Association of America (NAA).
> Read a transcript of Bob McChesney's interview with Contreras in November 2009