Scripps Plans 2-for-1 Stock Split

By: (AP) The E.W. Scripps Co.'s board of directors has increased the media company's dividend 14% and is preparing to declare a 2-for-1 stock split.

It would be the first split since the company went public in 1988, Scripps said on Friday.

The dividend will go from 17.5 cents to 20 cents a share. It is payable June 10 to shareholders of record on May 31.

The proposal to double the current authorization to 120 million Class A common shares and 30 million common voting shares must be approved by holders of the company's common voting shares. Those shareholders are to vote on the proposal at a special meeting July 15.

If approved, the board could declare the split at its next regularly scheduled meeting in late July. The split would not change the proportionate interest a shareholder maintains in the company.

The company's Class A Common Shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SSP. There is no active market for the company's common voting shares.

As of Feb. 10, there were 62.7 million Class A common shares and 18.4 million common voting shares outstanding. The Edward W. Scripps Trust owns 87% of the common voting shares.

Scripps operates 21 daily newspapers; 10 broadcast television stations; the Home & Garden Television, Fine Living, Food Network and DIY -- Do-It-Yourself cable channels; four cable and satellite television programming services; the Shop at Home retailing channel, Scripps Howard News Service and United Media, which licenses and syndicates the "Peanuts" and "Dilbert" comic strips.