• by Wayne Friedman , August 5, 2013

E. W. Scripps' television unit suffered from lower political advertising -- affecting the company’s overall second-quarter financial results.

TV revenues were down 5.7% to $111.4 million, with the station group losing almost all of its political advertising revenues from a year ago -- down to $800,000 from $11.2 million.

However, core advertising revenue was up 2.1% overall: National spot advertising rose 3.3% to $32.5 million and local spot advertising inched up 1.5% to $61.1 million. Local spot advertising accounts for 65.3% of Scripps' total TV spot revenue.

Looking ahead, the company expects TV revenues to sink in the coming months, down in the mid-to-high teens percentages. The company said the prior-year period includes $34 million of political advertising.

Better news was found with digital advertising and retrans revenue. Digital revenue increased 14% to $4.1 million, while retrans revenue -- money from cable, satellite, and telco TV distribution companies -- climbed 34% to $10.5 million.

E.W. Scripps' newspaper operations slipped 3.8% to $93.5 million. Overall, second-quarter revenues company-wide were down 4.2% to $207.9 million. Net income dropped 26% to $3.2 million.