E.W. Scripps has put up for sale its web and TV retailing unit - the Shop At Home Network, reports Internet Retailer. Scripps began looking at alternatives for Shop At Home Network after the unit posted a net loss of $28 million in 2005 - including a $10.4 million loss in the fourth quarter. Scripps has retained New York investment banking firm Allen & Co. to assist with the sale.
Scripps says the internet side of the business was growing, but not the cable side; the unit had e-commerce revenue of $57.1 million in 2005, up 30 percent from Internet Retailer-estimated sales of $44 million in 2004.
In 1Q06, Shop At Home Network recorded a net loss of $10 million on sales of $84.4 million, compared with a net loss of $5.4 million on sales of $102.1 million in the year-earlier period.
