{"id":583020,"date":"2026-02-11T20:32:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T20:32:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/583020\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T20:32:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T20:32:13","slug":"scripps-layoffs-loom-as-local-tv-company-sets-cost-cutting-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/583020\/","title":{"rendered":"Scripps Layoffs Loom as Local TV Company Sets Cost-Cutting Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tE.W. Scripps Co.<\/a> is expecting to make layoffs in the near future as the company, which operates more than 60 local TV stations in the U.S., has embarked on a plan aimed at boosting adjusted earnings by up to $150 million over the next three years.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis week at its headquarters in Cincinnati, Scripps<\/a> said, it gathered a team of 200 managers \u201ccharged with carrying out the transformation.\u201d The company said will share more details of its transformation plan on its Feb. 26 earnings call after reporting fourth-quarter 2025 financial results, including the \u201ctiming cadence of savings being realized and the costs to achieve the savings.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe scope of the layoffs at Scripps has yet to be determined. As of Dec. 31, 2024, Scripps reported having about 5,000 employees, including full-time and part-time employees. Of those, various labor unions represented approximately 360, all of which are in its local media group.<\/p>\n

\n\tScripps announced its \u201centerprise-wide transformation plan\u201d on Wednesday. That\u2019s designed to \u201cimprove operating performance and unlock new value,\u201d targeting annualized earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) growth of $125 million-$150 million by 2028. The company will deliver the improved EBITDA run-rate through cost savings and revenue growth initiatives that will \u201cleverage technology including AI and automation\u201d and increase revenue yield for its existing businesses.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn announcing the plan, Scripps CEO Adam Symson \u201creaffirmed Scripps\u2019 commitment to its local and national news, sports and entertainment programming, which Americans depend on to connect them to their communities, to their favorite teams, to their passions and to each other.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cScripps is nearly 150 years old, and we have thrived for so long because doing well by doing good is in our DNA,\u201d said Symson. \u201cWe are taking E.W. Scripps\u2019 founding mission and values for the enterprise, overlaying today\u2019s company vision to create connection, and doing so with operating principles and a cost structure we would have if we were to be founded today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLast fall Sinclair, the U.S.\u2019s biggest local TV station group operator, made an unsolicited takeover offer for Scripps. The board of Scripps in December rejected the proposal<\/a>. The hostile bid came as Nexstar Media Group agreed to acquire Tegna, in a $6 billion transaction that would run afoul of the FCC\u2019s 39% ownership cap; Nexstar has filed for a waiver to the ownership cap<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tScripps is scheduled to release Q4 2025 earnings after market close on Feb. 25. The company reaffirmed the guidance it issued with its earnings results on Nov. 6.<\/p>\n

\n\tFor the third quarter of 2025, Scripps\u00a0revenue fell 19% to $526 million, as revenue in its local TV group dropped 27% to $325 million. Net loss attributable to shareholders of $49 million (or 55 cents per share). That included a $7.6 million loss on extinguishment of debt, $6.5 million of financing transaction costs, a $1.4 million write-off of deferred financing costs and $2.7 million in restructuring costs.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn reporting Q3 results, Scripps said employee costs came down in both its Local Media and Scripps Networks divisions, and Symson said that \u201cwe\u2019re seeing the ongoing effect of reductions in our Scripps News operations last fall.\u201d For Q4, the company expects Local Media revenue to decline about 30% and Scripps Networks sales to be down in the \u201clow double-digit percent range.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLooking ahead, Scripps expects 2026 financial performance to be bolstered by a \u201crobust midterm election spending year,\u201d as well as the Winter Olympics on its 11 NBC stations and the World Cup competitions in North America as well as its Scripps Sports partnerships, its networks distribution on connected TV and the results of accretive divestiture and acquisition activity.<\/p>\n

\n\tEarlier this week, Scripps announced a deal to sell Court TV to Law&Crime, the true-crime and legal content network led by Dan Abrams that is now owned by Jellysmack<\/a>. Financial terms weren\u2019t disclosed; the deal reportedly values Court TV at less than $125 million.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn addition to its local TV stations, Scripps also operates national news outlet Scripps News and entertainment brands ION, ION Plus, ION Mystery, Bounce, Grit and Laff. It\u2019s also known for being the longtime steward of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"E.W. Scripps Co. is expecting to make layoffs in the near future as the company, which operates more…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":583021,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[30],"tags":[252783,171,252784,173,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-583020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-e-w-scripps-co","tag-entertainment","tag-scripps","tag-tv","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116053904228199879","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=583020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583020\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/583021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=583020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=583020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=583020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}