The Scripps Fire Sale Continues

The E.W. Scripps Company’s aggressive strategy to downsize and liquidate assets continued this week with the sale of its Court TV network, marking the latest move in what is shaping up to be a corporate fire sale designed to generate immediate capital.

After just six years of ownership, the Cincinnati-based media giant is shedding the courtroom cable and digital subchannel, handing the keys to Dan Abrams’ Law&Crime network. While financial terms were not disclosed, the sale is the third major divestiture for Scripps in recent months, signaling a frantic push to "strengthen the balance sheet."

The disposal of Court TV follows a streak of station sales executed last fall. In September, Scripps offloaded WFTX-TV in the Ft. Myers/Naples market to Sun Broadcasting. Just a month later, it sold Indianapolis station WRTV-TV to Circle City Broadcasting.

Scripps President and CEO Adam Symson framed the Court TV deal as "consistent" with the company’s roadmap to position itself for the future. However, the rapid succession of sales points to a company narrowing its portfolio to raise cash and remain viable as a standalone entity—especially following its rejection of a buyout offer from Sinclair Inc. late last year.

The transaction underscores a significant retreat from the expansion mindset Scripps held in 2019, when it revived Court TV a year after acquiring the intellectual property from Turner Broadcasting.

The sale also comes with a heavy human cost, typical of aggressive downsizing. Dan Abrams, who began his career at Court TV, told the New York Times he plans to transform the legacy asset into a "YouTube and digital-media-first business." Consequently, the vast majority of Court TV’s workforce will be cut; Abrams intends to retain only "about a dozen" of the network's 50 employees.