Key Financial Data
- Q2 Total revenue: $490.4 million (-9.2% year-over)
- Segment, shared services and corporate expenses: $441.2 million (-3.5%)
- Operating loss: $1.16 billion, compared with operating income of $76.6 million
- Net loss: $1.15 billion, compared with a net loss of $36.0 million
- Political advertising revenue: $29.7 million
- Local media revenue: $316.5 million (-5.4%)
- Local media core advertising revenue: $124.6 million (-8.7%)
- Local media political advertising revenue: $28.1 million, compared with $2.6 million
- Local media distribution revenue: $160.5 million (-16.7%)
- Scripps Networks revenue: $171.9 million (-16.5%)
- Retransmission blackout impact on distribution revenue: $26.7 million
- Total debt: $2.49 billion
- Read more Q2 2026 earnings report | Scripps coverage
The E. W. Scripps Company reported an astonishing $1.15 billion loss during its second financial quarter (Q2) of the year, driven in part by impairment charges from different transactions and lower revenue on account of blackouts that prevented Comcast and DIRECTV customers from watching its local TV stations for several weeks.
The disruptions resulted in Scripps posting a 13 percent dip in distribution revenue consisting of income associated with fees collected from cable, satellite and some streaming TV services. Revenue during Q2 associated with pay TV fees clocked in at $161 million, with Scripps blaming the blackouts on DIRECTV and Comcast as the main reason for the year-over decline.
Advertising suffered, too, with non-political commercial spots bringing in $125 million, down 4.8 percent. Political revenue wasn’t enough to overcome the dip, bringing in just $28 million during the quarter.
It wasn’t clear from Scripps’ financial reports if its local TV stations might have earned more money if those outlets reached millions of Comcast and DIRECTV customers who were otherwise deprived of programming due to the weeks-long carriage disputes.
In a statement released Thursday, Scripps CEO Adam Symson said the broadcaster is still working through a “transformation plan” that involves sizable expense reductions and strategic acquisitions or asset swaps. On the expense reduction side, Scripps expects to save around $100 million by the end of the year, the company affirmed.
The transformation plan is rooted in large part by Scripps’ desire to serve its viewers by tapping into artificial intelligence, which will displace workers at some of its news-producing stations. Earlier this week, Scripps issued pink slips to nearly 270 workers at its local broadcast stations and national networks, affecting news and sales positions. (The Desk was first to report that Scripps was readying layoff plans, one day before the company affirmed the move.)
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The goal of those changes is to placate shareholders by maintaining its output of community-oriented programming while effectively doing more with fewer human resources. Artificial intelligence and other technology will help Scripps achieve some of those goals, Symson said.
“These changes leverage today’s most advanced technology, AI and automation to both deliver improved operating results and allow us to better serve our local consumers, audiences and advertisers that rely on us across the nation,” Symson affirmed on Thursday. He asked shareholders to not look at the company’s financial disclosures as a progress report of how well those initiatives are delivering on his promises.
“The company’s Q2 financial results, impacted by the economic environment and audience measurement challenges, are not reflective of the progress we’re making,” Symson said. “We expect the transformation benefits to the company’s health and performance to become increasingly visible in the coming quarters.”
Cutting costs doesn’t mean Scripps won’t spend money where it feels it should: The company is in the process of acquiring several previously-divested Ion Network affiliates to bolster its portfolio of owned-and-operated stations. Scripps also continues to acquire local TV rights to premium sports, and recently forged deals with the Detroit Pistons and Nashville Predators to bring some of their regular-season games to Scripps-owned channels in those two cities.
Those investments, coupled with the layoffs announced earlier this week, are the ways that Scripps is “differentiating ourselves by attacking industry disruption with bold strategic bets,” Symson said.
“We are making difficult decisions, including eliminating 268 jobs across the company earlier this week, in service to our ability to survive and thrive and fulfill our commitments to our country and to our shareholders,” he promised. “Macroeconomic conditions have come and gone, and we have survived them. What distinguishes our approach today is that we are being proactive in making permanent changes that allow us to succeed within the realities of today’s media landscape.”
Pulling out more broadly, Scripps reported $490.4 million in overall earnings during Q2, down 9.2 percent compared to the prior year. The latest quarter included a $1.14 billion non-cash impairment charge involving goodwill and other intangible assets at Scripps Networks and $35.8 million in restructuring costs and a $9.3 million gain tied to the company’s station swap with Gray Media.
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