The E.W. Scripps Company

The E.W. Scripps Company closed 2025 confronting a familiar but punishing dynamic in U.S. broadcasting: the sharp revenue whiplash that follows a presidential election year. After benefiting from heavy political advertising in 2024, Scripps’ 2025 results reflect the cyclical drop-off in campaign spending, layered onto a structurally evolving television market and a balance sheet still carrying significant leverage from its ION acquisition earlier in the decade.

Full-year operating revenue declined to $2.15 billion in 2025 from $2.51 billion in 2024, a 14% drop. The decline was overwhelmingly political: political advertising revenue fell to $21.9 million in 2025 from $363 million in 2024. That single line item explains most of the year-over-year contraction.

The headline bottom line is stark. Scripps reported a net loss attributable to shareholders of $164.5 million, or $1.87 per diluted share, compared with net income of $87.6 million in 2024. Adjusted EBITDA dropped to $331.3 million from $598.0 million a year earlier. The company also absorbed $44.5 million in financing transaction costs and $13.0 million in losses on extinguishment of debt during the year FY2025, a reminder that capital structure, not just operations, is central to the 2025 story.

A tale of two divisions

Scripps today operates through two primary segments: Local Media and Scripps Networks. The former comprises more than 60 local television stations across 40+ markets, affiliated with ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX, alongside independents and low-power stations. It earns revenue from local, national and political advertising, as well as retransmission fees from cable, satellite and virtual MVPD distributors. The latter includes national brands such as Scripps News, ION, Bounce, Grit, ION Mystery, ION Plus and Laff, distributed over-the-air, via cable and increasingly through connected TV.

The 2025 divergence between the two segments is one of the more interesting aspects of the annual report.

Local Media revenue fell 19.6% to $1.35 billion, driven almost entirely by the collapse in political spending. Yet within that decline lies a more nuanced signal: core advertising revenue, excluding political, actually increased 2.4% year over year to $565.6 million. In the fourth quarter alone, core advertising rose 12%. Distribution revenue slipped only modestly (down 2% for the year), suggesting that retransmission fees remain comparatively stable despite ongoing cord-cutting pressures.

Segment profit for Local Media dropped 62% to $193.6 million. The political revenue cliff overwhelms the core advertising gains, illustrating how dependent even diversified station groups remain on electoral cycles.

By contrast, Scripps Networks delivered a quieter but strategically significant performance. Revenue declined 3.8% to $804.2 million, yet segment profit rose 24.5% to $236.8 million. Expenses were cut sharply, down more than 12% for the year, with particularly notable reductions in employee compensation and programming costs. In effect, the Networks division expanded margins despite a soft revenue environment.

This margin improvement in Networks, driven in part by sports strategy and streaming monetization initiatives (as noted by management in the earnings release), stands out as one of the few clear structural positives in the 2025 report.

Key financial indicators

The core year-over-year shifts are summarized below.

The revenue decline is dramatic, but it is cyclical. The profitability contraction, however, must be read alongside financing actions and structural leverage.

At year-end, Scripps held $27.9 million in cash against total debt of $2.6 billion. During 2025, the company refinanced aggressively: issuing $545 million in new term loans maturing in 2028, $340 million maturing in 2029, and $750 million in senior secured second-lien notes due 2030. It also paid down $2 billion in long-term debt during the year.

One of the more striking disclosures concerns preferred stock dividends. Scripps did not declare or pay its 2025 quarterly preferred dividends; the 9% rate compounds quarterly, and undeclared cumulative dividends totaled $117 million at year-end. Under the terms of Berkshire Hathaway’s preferred equity investment, Scripps cannot pay common dividends or repurchase shares until those preferred shares are redeemed. That constraint effectively sidelines common equity holders from capital returns in the near term and underscores how the capital structure continues to shape strategic options.

Total equity declined to $1.25 billion from $1.32 billion, reflecting the annual loss and balance sheet adjustments.

Asset churn and strategic repositioning

The company is not standing still. In early 2026, Scripps announced the exercise of its option to re-acquire 23 ION-affiliated stations previously divested for regulatory reasons, at an aggregate purchase price of approximately $54 million. Management described these as immediately accretive to Networks segment profit and margin.

Simultaneously, Scripps is selling certain local stations, including WFTX in Fort Myers and WRTV in Indianapolis, for combined proceeds of $123 million, and plans additional station swaps with Gray Media, subject to regulatory approval. These moves align with a strategy to optimize market positioning and reduce debt.

The report also references a non-cash charge of $19.5 million related to held-for-sale Court TV assets in the fourth quarter, hinting at portfolio recalibration within Networks.

Perhaps the most forward-looking element of the 2025 release is the “transformation plan” targeting $125–$150 million in annualized enterprise EBITDA growth by 2028. The plan combines cost savings and revenue growth initiatives, leveraging AI and automation to increase yield from existing operations. Early financial benefits are expected in the second half of 2026.

For a company with $331 million in adjusted EBITDA in 2025, achieving the upper end of that target would represent a material improvement, potentially lifting EBITDA back toward mid-cycle levels even without political windfalls.

A business still shaped by elections, and spectrum

Scripps remains one of the largest holders of broadcast spectrum in the United States and reaches nearly every U.S. television home through its mix of over-the-air, cable, satellite and connected TV distribution FY2025. The strategic value of that spectrum, particularly in a future where ATSC 3.0 and data broadcasting evolve, often receives less attention than quarterly earnings.

The company is also positioning itself for the 2026 midterm cycle, which management expects to generate record political advertising spending, with broadcast capturing roughly half of an estimated $11 billion total. In 2022, Scripps generated more than $200 million in midterm political revenue; if even a portion of that repeats, 2026 will look markedly different from 2025.

Scripps’ 2025 results are a stress test of the company’s post-ION structure in a non-election year. The Local Media segment demonstrated resilience in core advertising, even as political spending evaporated. The Networks division expanded profit through disciplined cost management. Yet the overall profitability swing, compounded preferred dividends, and persistent leverage underline the fragility of the balance sheet.

The central question for investors and industry observers is whether the combination of transformation initiatives, sports partnerships, connected TV growth and disciplined portfolio management can stabilize earnings sufficiently between election cycles. If the $125–$150 million EBITDA uplift materializes and political revenue rebounds in 2026, Scripps could re-enter a deleveraging phase with improved flexibility. If not, the capital structure will remain the dominant narrative.