E.W. Scripps Company announced a $49 million loss in the third quarter, primarily due to the absence of political advertising revenue. This situation underscores the company's ongoing efforts to stabilize its finances through cost reductions, the sale of stations, and strategic refinancing. The company's revenue for the quarter ending September 30 reached $526 million, a 19% decrease compared to the same period in 2024, which included $125 million from political advertising. This year, political revenue was only $5.1 million. The loss amounts to 55 cents per share, compared to a $33 million profit in the previous year's quarter.
However, CEO Adam Symson expressed optimism, noting three consecutive quarters of meeting or exceeding Wall Street expectations and progress in reducing debt. "All of these financial milestones should serve as clear evidence that our short-term performance improvement and near-term growth strategies we have been executing, many of them unique among local broadcast groups, are working," Symson stated.
The company reduced expenses by more than 4% in its Local Media division and 7.5% in Scripps Networks during the quarter, with employee costs decreasing in both segments. The Networks division maintained stable revenue at $201 million while increasing its profit margin to 27%. Connected TV (CTV) revenue grew by 41% as Scripps took advantage of broad distribution across streaming platforms, which helped to offset what the company described as "softness due to economic uncertainty."
The Local Media division saw core advertising revenue increase by 1.8% to $132 million, driven by the services category and national advertising growth. Scripps attributed these gains to "strong sales execution" and its sports strategy, which includes a new agreement with the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning. Scripps recently announced the sale of two stations, WFTX in Fort Myers and WRTV in Indianapolis, for a combined $123 million. These transactions follow a July announcement of station swaps with Gray Media across five markets in four states. The company framed these moves as part of a larger strategy to improve operating performance and reduce debt.
In August, Scripps completed $750 million in new senior secured second-lien notes at 9.875%, using the proceeds to pay off its 2027 senior notes, reduce its 2028 term loan by $205 million, and pay down revolving credit facilities. Net leverage was 4.6 times at the end of the quarter, down from 4.9 times at the end of the first quarter. As of September 30, the company held $54.7 million in cash against $2.7 billion in total debt.
Scripps did not pay any 2025 quarterly preferred stock dividends, with undeclared and unpaid cumulative dividends totaling $101 million. Under the terms of Berkshire Hathaway’s preferred equity investment, Scripps cannot pay common dividends or repurchase shares until all preferred shares are redeemed. The WNBA season on ION delivered a positive note, with linear and connected TV revenue increasing 92% over the 2024 season, despite the absence of Caitlin Clark due to injury. Scripps reported strong demand for women’s sports programming in this year’s upfront cycle, with sports volume up 30% and commanding premium advertising rates. Looking ahead to the fourth quarter, Scripps expects strong core revenue growth, supported by the Lightning partnership, continued growth across live sports markets, and easier year-over-year comparisons after political advertising displaced core advertising in the prior year.