Scripps Shares Pop On Earnings Report

Rich Boehne

Shares of E.W. Scripps popped 10 percent on Friday after the owner of 33 TV stations and 34 radio stations reported quarterly revenue and profit that beat the estimates of analysts.

Shares of E.W. Scripps rose $1.45 to $16.20 on Friday but remain 34 percent lower than they were 11 months ago.

According to The Hollywood Repoter, the company said it earned 6 cents a share, reversing a year-ago loss, on revenue of $210 million in the first quarter. Wall Street was expecting E.W. Scripps to break even on revenue of $207 million.

The company said retransmission revenue nearly doubled to $54 million as it reached a new agreement with Time Warner Cable in January that covers 3 million households.

Rich Boehne, the CEO, also said that political advertising generated $9.3 million in ad sales during the first quarter.

"We're preparing now for the presidential campaign to move forward with two candidates, framing the decision for voters and setting up a contest that will be largely waged on television," Boehne said.

The company's television segment, which includes 15 ABC affiliates, five NBC affiliates and two each of CBS and Fox, posted a 58 percent surge in revenue to $180 million.

Radio revenue fell slightly to $14.6 million and revenue from digital revenue — which includes satire site Cracked as well as Newsy, an online video news service — rose 25 percent to $12.3 million.