Backchannelmedia

Cincinnati Post

Second-quarter earnings at E.W. Scripps Co. were hit hard as the Cincinnati-based media company recorded a $33.7 million loss on the sale of its Shop At Home TV shopping network.

But earnings from continuing operations exceeded analysts' expectations, and shares rose more than 2 percent to $42.87 in trading Monday.

The company said net income fell 27 percent to $71.1 million (43 cents per share) compared to $97.5 million (59 cents per share) the same quarter last year.

Last month, Scripps said it would sell Shop At Home to Jewelry Television for $17 million after sustaining losses of about $84 million in its brief foray into TV retailing. The company is also selling five Shop At Home broadcast TV stations that it acquired in a package deal for the TV retailer in two transactions in 2002 and 2003. At the time, Scripps paid about $280 million for Shop At Home and the stations.

Scripps' numbers were more encouraging for its continuing operations. Earnings from continuing operations -- which excludes results from businesses that have been, or are in the process of being sold -- rose to $104.8 million, or 64 cents a share, compared with $103 million, or 62 cents a share, a year earlier.

Once again, Scripps' most profitable business segment continued to be its cable TV networks, which includes HGTV, the Food Network and DIY. Revenue in the segment increased by 17 percent to $286.3 million.

Newspaper revenues were up less than 1 percent to $182 million and broadcast TV revenues increased 4 percent to $86.4 million.

The Scripps interactive media business, which includes the online search and shopping comparison sites Shopzilla and uSwitch had revenues of about $65 million for the quarter. If the company had owned these recent acquisitions from the start of 2005, revenues would have nearly doubled for the quarter, Scripps said.

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