“This morning we’re reporting terrific fourth quarter and year-end results, a strong move-down in year-end leverage, and really meaningful progress on performance improvement for the Scripps Networks that we first told you about last year.”
That’s how The E.W. Scripps Co. President/CEO Adam Symson opened his company’s Q4 2024 earnings report, which saw the chief executive advocate for regulatory rule relief from the FCC — making it a key part of the earnings call.
Symson also shared that, when deregulation arrives, it’s not a likely buyer as it seeks to continue to lower its debt.
“All of this progress comes as a result of the company’s focus on transformation,” he said on the call. Symson elaborates on this theme in the upcoming Spring 2025 edition of the quarterly Radio + Television Business Report magazine and in a forthcoming RBR+TVBR InFOCUS Video Podcast.
Before discussing Scripps’ financial performance, with most of the details shared late Tuesday in a press release and 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Symson opted to start “high level.” This saw him offer an assessment of the changes in Washington, D.C., under the Trump Administration and how they present an opportunity for Scripps and its investors.
Symson noted that the appointment of Brendan Carr as FCC Chairman “signals a significant shift in the federal government’s attitude toward local broadcast television.” He noted how Carr has been a vocal advocate for reducing regulatory constraints and has expressed his desire to eventually relax the FCC’s local ownership rules for broadcast media. “This free-market policy shift could present new opportunities for us and our peers to strengthen the operating performance of our business through in-market and company consolidation,” Symson said. “A change is long overdue.”
The Scripps CEO elaborated on how the current ownership rules “run counter to the original aim of the rules.” Preserving competition and a wide range of viewpoints notwithstanding, “Given how much fragmentation has occurred in the journalism and media landscape following the digital revolution, the current ownership restrictions are creating local broadcast group economics that threaten to silence the very voices they were designed to protect.”
Symson noted how the local TV rules were created before World War II; broadcast television did not widely attract audiences until 1948. That said, Symson, like his peers, provided clear examples of how the Commission’s rules “have not kept up,” putting local journalism and the broadcast television industry at an unfair disadvantage. For Radio, current FCC rules have been locked in place for 50 years.
Modernizing the rules for radio and TV would “finally allow broadcasters to compete in this modern media ecosystem.” And, it would allow Scripps and its peers to further invest in its content — including live sports, a lucrative new division of the company headed by Brian Lawlor, Symson added.
In the Q&A session, Dan Kurnos of Benchmark Companies asked Symson if there were opportunities for Scripps that could come if deregulation didn’t immediately occur, and if the Carr Commission does make a move, what could that mean for the company?
Symson pointed to his prepared markets, noting that greater scale is necessary to best perform and provide consumers top-level content. “We’re certainly engaged in discussions around opportunities to optimize our portfolio to improve the performance of the local stations, opportunities we think we’ll be able to take as a result of the change of attitude at the FCC. I’m not sure there has to be a full change in regulations, as you saw with the announcement of the [Gray Media ‘Top Four’ rule waiver] that is one way you’re going to start to see things break. This is absolutely critical to our ability to continue to be able to invest in local journalism and in localism itself, including live sports.”
SPIN OR SWAP: WHAT’S NEXT FOR SCRIPPS
Is Scripps a buyer or a seller? The latter appears to be the case, based on Symson’s comments to Kurnos.
“We’re very, very focused on looking at all opportunities,” Symson said. “I don’t think we have the balance sheet to be a buyer … we told you our highest priority is in deleveraging and paying down debt. But I do expect to us take full advantage of the opportunities to swap and potentially to even sell out of non-strategic markets if the opportunity presents itself and it is in the best interests of shareholders.”
DEBT REDUCTION AND IMPROVED OPERATING PERFORMANCE
Symson also addressed Scripps’ plans for achieving company growth, pointing to debt refinancing that CFO Jason Combs reviewed on the call. “Successfully managing our debt structure and pay down is one important aspect of the plan we are executing,” Symson said.
Investors were pleased with Scripps’ new transaction support agreement with lenders representing more than 70% of the aggregate principal amount of its 2026 and 2028 term loans; and its decision to enter into commitment letters with accounts receivable securitization providers for a new securitization facility. Minutes after Wednesday’s Opening Bell on the Nasdaq market, “SSP” was up by more than 26% to $1.8150. However, Scripps shares had been up by more than 50% in pre-market trading late Tuesday.
