• by Wayne Friedman , December 6, 2007

Political and Olympic TV advertising will skyrocket E. W. Scripps television stations' revenue--up 15% to 20% in 2008.

Scripps company senior executives--Kenneth W. Lowe, president and chief executive officer, Richard A. Boehne, executive vice president and chief operating officer, and Joseph G. NeCastro, executive vice president and chief financial officer--made these projections while at this week's UBS Annual Global Media and Communications Conference.

The company's Scripps Network division will also see some nice ad revenue increases--but in the high single digits. Networks such as HGTV, Food Network, Fine Living and DIY are expected to show a total revenue gain of between 8% and 10%. The company expects expenses to be up about the same amount, due to increased programming costs.

One major caveat: the company's newspapers are projected to suffer--much like the rest of the industry. Scripps executives said total revenue for newspapers will be down by low-single digits percent decrease. Newspaper expenses also are expected to be down by a similar amount.

Scripps expected good results from its growing Internet retail outlets--Shopzilla and uSwitch--projecting profit for 2007 to be in the $55 million to $65 million range.