Will Scripps Split Suffer Same Fate as Belo?

Implications: E. W. Scripps now has final regulatory approvals to split operations in to two pubic companies, similar to what Belo Corp. did a few months ago.  Will Scripps fare better in their efforts?

Analysis: It will be interesting to watch how Wall Street and other companies react to the split of the E. W. Scripps company in to two separate companies.  We've seen one newspaper/broadcast entity (Belo) split already, with the new stock in both companies down, but then, so are most media stocks.

Scripps is splitting itself differently however.  Unlike Belo, Scripps is keeping their broadcast and newspaper operations under the same roof as E. W. Scripps Company, while the cable networks and online shopping websites operate under the heading of Scripps Interactive.  One rationale for the split is to free up the interactive or new media part of the company from the weight of the traditional media.

So while we can't compare apples to apples in the case of Belo and Scripps, it will be interesting to see how the companies fare in the new environment.  Belo's split has not yet added any value to their two companies.  When Viacom split in to "new" Viacom and CBS in 2006, that was supposed to unlock the MTV/new media side from the stodgy old CBS TV network.  But that outcome has been reversed, with CBS growing at a faster pace than new Viacom.

Let's keep an eye on Scripps, post-breakup, and see what if anything new we can learn from the most recent effort to create more enterprise value for owners/shareholders.