CINCINNATI — Media company E.W. Scripps, searching to capitalize on its fast-growing cable and Internet-based businesses, said Tuesday it plans to split its stagnant newspaper business into a separate company.
The move comes two weeks after another media company, Belo Corp., said it would spin off its newspaper business, which has been struggling to keep readers and ad dollars.
Scripps signaled in January that it planned to focus on its growing businesses and might sell or spin off its newspaper operations. Analysts said then that investors would respond well to some type of separation, and they did Tuesday, pushing shares up nearly 8 percent.
The Scripps split differs from Belo’s in that Scripps’ television stations would be part of the newspaper company, which some analysts have labeled “old media” business.
Scripps Networks Interactive would include HGTV, the Food Network, the DIY Network, the Fine Living Television Network and Great American Country along with online comparison-shopping services Shopzilla and uSwitch. They have combined annual revenues of about $1.4 billion and 2,100 employees, Scripps said.
E.W. Scripps Co. would include newspapers in 17 U.S. markets, 10 broadcast television stations, a character-licensing and feature-syndication business operated by United Media and Scripps Media Center in Washington.
Scripps’ newspapers include the Rocky Mountain News in Denver and the Camera and the Colorado Daily in Boulder.
The old-media businesses have combined annual revenues of about $1.1 billion and employ about 7,100 people, the company said.
Under the plan, Scripps shareholders would receive stock in Scripps Networks Interactive in the form of a tax- free dividend.
