• by Wayne Friedman , June 5, 2008

Politics pays--handsomely. The silver lining for TV station groups is the expected rise in political advertising, especially in the second half of the year.

E.W. Scripps Co. is anticipating that its 10 TV stations will see strong ad revenue gains--16% to 18%--in the second six months of 2008 if individual candidates and other political advertising revenue come in as planned. Scripps is forecasting some $38 million in ad buys for its stations.

But this good ad news is not spreading to Scripps' newspaper group, where advertising revenue is expected to fall 8% to 10% due to continued weakness in local retail and classified ads. The company says California and Florida are weak regions for its newspapers.

Scripps is readying a split of its newspaper and TV divisions into two publicly traded companies. In addition, the company notes that Scripps Networks Interactive, another new company that will be created from the separation, is forecast to increase revenues by a mid- to high-single-digit percentage in the second half.

Various media executives, including CBS chief executive Les Moonves, have talked about a major boon from increased political advertising for their radio and TV stations groups, especially from the two presidential candidate campaigns. Both are expected to be ready to spend big media dollars in an anticipated tense and close race.