Scripps: Renegotiating Shopzilla's Google Agreement; Networks Not For Sale
This story was written by Joseph Weisenthal.
Scripps' (NYSE: SSP) big comparison services Shopzilla and uSwitch continued on a decent turnaround path this quarter. On the company's conference call, management said that for the year they expect $8-$10 million in profit for the two services. CFO Joseph NeCastro warned, however, that Shopzilla's sponsored links arrangement with Google (NSDQ: GOOG) expires on October 31st: "We are in active discussions with them right now, but depending on where we end up, we could see some impact at the beginning in the fourth quarter." Management played it pretty coy on what they were getting at, though when pressed on the probability of working out an arrangement, NeCastro just said: "We have deal with Google if we want it."
-- Housing Economy: There's been talk that the Scripps cable networks (HGTV in particular) could be particularly exposed to the weak housing economy. Here's their spin on that: "Our endemics for HGTV, which leads to the question you asked about the housing slump, have actually been fairly very strong, particularly at the big box endemics. And when you think about it, HGTV the real substance of HGTV is about improving the experience of living within the home you have and so to some extent the housing dilemma has drawn A) more audience to HGTV and B) more advertiser interest in this specific category related to home improvement."
-- For Sale?: In response to a question, CEO Kenneth Lowe insisted that Scripps Networks was not for sale: "...let me repeat what I have been saying publicly at recent forums, whether it is Bloomberg or CNBC or recently out on the road show, we did not execute this spin off for purpose of selling the cable networks interactive businesses; they not for sale. If you'll excuse the analogy, it's some what flattering to have a house that everybody wants to buy, before you've even put a sales sign in the front yard. There no for sales sign. That does not prevent rumors that does it not prevent any window and there is nothing we can do about that.
Transcript (via SeekingAlpha)
By Joseph Weisenthal