Scripps - General Discussion

[Megatron81 343]

I always thought that WZPX Scripps should've just bought since it isn't a top 4 TV station in West Michigan why spin it off.

[Georgie56 3661]

Scripps is now purchasing WTVQ in Lexington for $15.8 million.

[MichiganNewsGraphicsJunkie 1158]

50 minutes ago, Georgie56 said:

Scripps is now purchasing WTVQ in Lexington for $15.8 million.

ummm.. why??

[JRyan 694]

1 hour ago, Georgie56 said:

Scripps is now purchasing WTVQ in Lexington for $15.8 million.

 

I think it goes without saying that those at WTVQ would be wise to update their resumes now.

[l_miro 245]

1 hour ago, MichiganNewsGraphicsJunkie said:

ummm.. why??

 

I don't know if Scripps knows but since courts nuked the ban on owning 2 stations that are in the top 4 why not. $15.8 mil and they'll provide WTVQ with services, so $$$ for Scripps. Stripping out the news department is further savings so there's upside for not a lot of money

[GoldenShine_10 263]

16 minutes ago, l_miro said:

 

I don't know if Scripps knows but since courts nuked the ban on owning 2 stations that are in the top 4 why not. $15.8 mil and they'll provide WTVQ with services, so $$$ for Scripps. Stripping out the news department is further savings so there's upside for not a lot of money

 

It puts the rest of Morris on the clock too. Nexstar would be a good fit - except for their obsession with national coverage.

[tyrannical bastard 4676]

Scripps is hell bent on making themselves a cluster before they go under...so now two stations can be at risk instead of just the one!

 

WTVQ is no prize, but a neutered version of it under Scripps is worse than a standalone station, even by someone like Morris.

[JRyan 694]

Scripps' talk about "paying down debt" in selling WFTX and WRTV is clearly just propaganda. Anyone can see that at this point.

 

And while we're at it, maybe someone should convince Scripps to change its slogan to be "Our light went out and can't find our own way".  Would be pretty accurate for a company that was once the gold standard for local TV.

[Recovering Producer 410]

 

6 hours ago, MichiganNewsGraphicsJunkie said:

ummm.. why??

 

Two retransmission revenue streams (minus the cut network gets), two stations worth of advertising revenue with the opportunity to bundle both stations to advertisers, operating cost/scale advantages over the other single station operators in the market. Realistic added costs: Power bill for second transmitter, programming costs, maybe a handful of WTVQ staffers added to WLEX employee headcount post closing.

[l_miro 245]

48 minutes ago, Recovering Producer said:

 

 

Two retransmission revenue streams (minus the cut network gets), two stations worth of advertising revenue with the opportunity to bundle both stations to advertisers, operating cost/scale advantages over the other single station operators in the market. Realistic added costs: Power bill for second transmitter, programming costs, maybe a handful of WTVQ staffers added to WLEX employee headcount post closing.

 

 

also, depreciation and amortization

[ehatt493 41]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but WUPX was also one of the ION affiliates that Scripps divested to Inyo when they took control of ION several years ago. So this move would give Scripps a sneaky triopoly, even though WUPX has never originated programming locally.

[MD TV 389]

Alisyn Camerota has joined Scripps News and has a show that debuts Friday night:

 

https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/alisyn-camerota-returns-scripps-news-connected-1236696600/

 

And they're launching a sports FAST Channel tomorrow:

 

https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/scripps-sports-network-free-streaming-channel-debuts-1236696054/

 

[mre29 1967]

Wasn't Scripps News supposed to close down?

 

[Georgie56 3661]

29 minutes ago, mre29 said:

Wasn't Scripps News supposed to close down?

 

It shut down OTA in 2024. It’s purely a streaming operation now.

[hfiles 105]

Maybe an armchair CEO can explain to me why going FAST only is better than being available OTA and streaming? Is it about carriage deals on the FAST services? Better ad-rates?

[TheRolyPoly 3510]

We're getting another Scripps indie!

 

Starting later this summer, thanks to a new multi-year deal with Scripps Sports for telecasts of the Nashville Predators, WNPX will become... The Spot - Nashville 28.

 

https://tvnewscheck.com/programming/article/nashville-predators-scripps-sports-ink-multi-year-media-rights-deal/

[TheRolyPoly 3510]

Scripps has filed for trademark status with the USPTO on March 23rd for... Shop Scripps.

 

Quote

Promoting the goods and services of others; Advertising, marketing, and promoting the goods and services of others via sponsored television and video segments; Online retail store services featuring a wide variety of consumer goods.

 

https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=99720000&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch

[TVLurker 389]

8 hours ago, TheRolyPoly said:

Scripps has filed for trademark status with the USPTO on March 23rd for... Shop Scripps.

Everyday they focus less on their legacy stations and more on their ION stations.

[nathannah 2792]

38 minutes ago, TVLurker said:

Everyday they focus less on their legacy stations and more on their ION stations.

They cannot outrun their legacy; welcome back Ion Shop.

[mre29 1967]

23 hours ago, TheRolyPoly said:

We're getting another Scripps indie!

 

Starting later this summer, thanks to a new multi-year deal with Scripps Sports for telecasts of the Nashville Predators, WNPX will become... The Spot - Nashville 28.

 

https://tvnewscheck.com/programming/article/nashville-predators-scripps-sports-ink-multi-year-media-rights-deal/

 

So, will the Ion affiliation be moving to another channel or just become WNPX's tenth digital subchannel? And, yes, I said tenth.

 

[nathannah 2792]

They'd be more likely to cut that last quadrant of channels that they don't own, and if QVC and HSN do indeed go the way of ShopHQ this summer their hand will be forced anyways.

[Megatron81 343]

Scripps aired the Tigers homer opener on DT2 surprised that it wasn't main FOX17 in West Michigan and will air 10 Tiger games this season. Didn't want complaints from the few viewers that watch 48 Hours & Dateline in the afternoons or not to delay anchorless 4PM newscast if the game ran over. I'd get if it was primetime have it on the DT2.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if the Pistons sign with Scripps in Detroit and that DT2 on WXMI becomes The Spot with the Byron Allen Fake Court Shows that Sinclair dropped on their sister station this past fall. I'm still surprised they still have Antenna TV and Nexstar hasn't taken to fill their DT's with in my opinion. 

[channel2 1042]

3 hours ago, nathannah said:

They cannot outrun their legacy; welcome back Ion Shop.

 

Welcome back Shop at Home Network. Now that's part of the Scripps legacy!

[l_miro 245]

3 hours ago, mre29 said:

 

So, will the Ion affiliation be moving to another channel or just become WNPX's tenth digital subchannel? And, yes, I said tenth.

 

 

every 'The Spot' station appears to keep 8 channels. WXPX 66.1 720p became 'The Spot', ION moved to 66.2 480i, QVC at 66.8

[ColtFromGulfcoast 869]

2 hours ago, Megatron81 said:

Scripps aired the Tigers homer opener on DT2 surprised that it wasn't main FOX17 in West Michigan and will air 10 Tiger games this season. Didn't want complaints from the few viewers that watch 48 Hours & Dateline in the afternoons or not to delay anchorless 4PM newscast if the game ran over. I'd get if it was primetime have it on the DT2.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if the Pistons sign with Scripps in Detroit and that DT2 on WXMI becomes The Spot with the Byron Allen Fake Court Shows that Sinclair dropped on their sister station this past fall. I'm still surprised they still have Antenna TV and Nexstar hasn't taken to fill their DT's with in my opinion. 

Wouldn't that be WZPX?