NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) March 16, 2006--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that its credit ratings and outlook on The E.W. Scripps Co. (A/Stable/A-1) are not affected by the announcement that the company acquired uSwitch Ltd. for $366 million (£210 million) in net cash. The transaction was funded with cash on hand and borrowings under Scripps' commercial paper program and credit facilities. Privately held uSwitch is the U.K.'s leading provider of online price comparison and switching for essential home services and personal finance. In addition, uSwitch owns UpMyStreet.com that is a leading local information Web site in the U.K. Scripps expects uSwitch to generate full year 2006 revenues of $40-45 million, compared with $25 million in 2005, and
