Net loss for media firm's first quarter

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Global Financial
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BEIJING, May 5 -- Media company E.W.
Scripps, which earlier this year shut down
Denver's Rocky Mountain News, said yesterday that weak advertising spending and
a slew of charges led to a net loss in its first quarter.

Scripps, which owns newspapers and TV stations,
posted a loss of 220.7 million U.S. dollars, or $4.12 per share, compared with
income from continuing operations totaling $84.1 million, or $1.55 a share, in
the same quarter a year earlier.

Excluding one-off items, the latest quarter's loss
attributable to Scripps shareholders would have been $13 million, or 24 U.S. cents
a share. The items included a preliminary impairment charge of $192 million at
the company's TV stations, and operating losses and wind-down costs of $13.3
million at its newspapers operated under partnerships and joint agreements.

Revenue fell 20 percent to $205.4 million from
$255.7 million.

Analysts, on average, had expected a loss of 13 US
cents a share, excluding items, on sales of $202.3 million, according to a poll
by Thomson Reuters.

The company said closing the Rocky Mountain News
"eliminated significant financial risk."

"Operating losses and expenses related to the
shutdown were confined to the first quarter, so now we move ahead sadly but in a
much better position," said Rich Boehne, president and chief executive. Boehne
added, however, the second quarter had not shown any signs of improvement over
the first.

(Source: Shanghai Daily/Agencies)