Free Republic

Thursday February 2, 5:44 pm ET E.W. Scripps Posts Fourth-Quarter Loss of $603,000 on Costs; Shares Rise 4.2 Percent CINCINNATI (AP) -- The E.W. Scripps Co., a newspaper publisher and owner of the Food Network, Home & Garden Television and other cable networks, swung to a loss in the fourth quarter on costs for writing down its Shop At Home unit and consolidating newspaper operations in Denver. Scripps lost $603,000 during the quarter, but broke even on a per-share basis. That compares to earnings in the year-ago quarter of $91.3 million, or 55 cents per share. Revenue grew 17 percent...

The Birmingham Post-Herald will publish its final edition on Friday, Sept. 23, The E. W. Scripps Company, owner of the newspaper, announced today. The closing of The Post-Herald, a five-day afternoon newspaper, marks the end of a joint operating agreement between Scripps and Advance Publications Inc., owner of The Birmingham News, which manages the printing, marketing and distribution of both Birmingham newspapers. The Birmingham News will continue to publish seven days a week in the morning. Scripps attributed its decision to close The Post-Herald to the fact that the economics of publishing The Post-Herald were no longer favorable. The joint...

OK, on This Thread, we learned that Food Network parent company Scripps had stopped a planned "Iron Chef" feature with a group of Boy Scouts, because of the Boy Scouts "anti-homosexual" attitudes. In that thread I posted my remarks that I sent to Food Network, telling them that I would be doing all that I can to organize and participate in a boycott of all things Food Network, Scripps, and ALL their sponsors. I just received the following e-mail from John F. Lansing, President, Scripps Networks... "Thank you for taking the time to contact us and to express your concern....

Food Network Reneges on Boy Scout Troop by Aaron Atwood, assistant editorTV's Food Network takes Boy Scout idea off the table.When the Food Network asked "How do you Iron Chef?" on its Web site, Boy Scout Troop 99 of Colorado Springs responded. They were accepted—then rejected because they pledge to "being morally straight."The troop had been doing Iron Chef competitions at campouts and Scoutmaster Dave Maher thought a vignette of his troop cooking up a storm would make a great promo for the company. The competition gives two chefs an identical cache of food and challenges each to outdo the...