...August 18, 2023 What's new: The E.W. Scripps Co. reported stronger-than-expected performance in its network business in its recent second-quarter earnings release. Segment revenue, while still down 3.2% compared to last year, exceeded the company's previous guidance for a high-single-digit precent decline. Higher-than-expected ratings drove the overperformance, partially due to the launch of WNBA Friday Night Spotlight on Ion, and increased demand in the scatter market. Why it matters: Despite a better-than-expected second-quarter performance in the company's network business, we have very little visibility into future advertising trends and still expect the Scripps networks segment's profitability to decline to about $202 million in 2023 from $310 million in 2022. We also anticipate it could take several years for the networks segment to return to its 2022 EBITDA level. We still expect Scripps' trailing-eight-quarter leverage will be elevated at about 8x in 2023 and view it unlikely that...
