Latest in E.W. Scripps

Harvey Weinstein’s rape trial in New York, which is slated for September, will headline gavel-to-gavel courtroom coverage on the reborn Court TV. The network, reactivating a TV brand that revolutionized trial coverage as much as ESPN did sports or CNN did news, relaunched in May as a multicast network operated by E.W…

EXCLUSIVE: Katz Networks, a unit of the E.W. Scripps Co., has expanded the reach of the upcoming May 8 launch of the new Court TV with additional distribution pacts across multiple platforms. Court TV has added more than a dozen mid-sized cable providers, including GCI Cable; Massillon Cable TV; Buckeye Cable; Skitter…

Court TV, the iconic TV brand known for broadcasting the trials of O.J. Simpson, the Menendez Brothers and Casey Anthony, will relaunch under its old name with a new backer. Katz Networks, a unit of the E.W. Scripps Co. which operates multicast networks like Bounce, Escape and Grit, will relaunch Court TV in May 2019…

E.W. Scripps-owned Laff network is the latest to dump Roseanne. The network just issued a statement that it is removing the original Roseanne series from its schedule, at least for now. “While we believe viewers have always distinguished the personal behavior of the actress Roseanne Barr from the television character…

Univision Communication’s TV stations will continue to air Bounce, Escape, Grit and Laff as subchannels on its major market outlets through 2024, the result of a new agreement announced this morning. The niche targeted channels are owned by Katz Broadcasting, which TV station owner E.W. Scripps agreed this month to…

TV station owner E.W. Scripps made a $292 million bet on over-the-air programming today in a deal to buy four networks from Katz Broadcasting: Bounce, Grit, Escape and Laff. The networks generate revenues from general-market and direct-response advertising. "In today's fragmented television ecosystem, a growing number…

It’ll be Tax Day, but Katz Broadcasting is hoping Americans in 21 markets will find something to laugh about with the launch April 15 of LAFF, what Katz calls the nation’s first comedy-driven broadcast network, The network will premiere on ABC-owned TV stations in eight markets – including Los Angeles, Chicago and New…

Here’s the latest installment in the media merger mania saga: Journal Communications shares are up 26.6% with E.W. Scripps +10.6% today after the companies unveiled a plan to merge TV operations and spin off their newspapers. The TV company will retain the E.W. Scripps name and be controlled by the Scripps family…

The trading day ended with a thud. The benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 wound up -2.1% as word spread that Germany might balk at a proposal to help bail out debt-laden members of the European Union including Greece and Portugal. That affected media stocks; the Dow Jones U.S. Media Index fell 3%. Disney was the hardest…

The federal government will have to slash $1.2T in spending, mostly beginning in 2013, if the 12-member congressional Super Committee can’t strike a deficit reduction deal soon. They still appear split — even though, as a practical matter, they have to reach an agreement by midnight in order to have something ready…

The partnership involves big names in local TV including Belo, Cox, E.W. Scripps, Gannett, Hearst, and Media General. They want to enhance TV viewing beginning in early 2012 by offering an app that enables Apple or Android mobile devices to automatically detect what you’re watching. The stations then would feed…

The nine-station acquisition includes ABC affiliates in Denver, Indianapolis, San Diego, and Bakersfield, CA. When the transaction is complete, 10 of Scripps’ 19 stations will be ABC affiliates — making it the largest independent owner of ABC stations. McGraw-Hill’s other stations are low-power affiliates of Spanish…