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E.W. Scripps is emphasizing women’s sports on broadcast network ION and more targeted programming on Court TV and Bounce in its upfront presentation to advertisers.
Ahead of its Wednesday evening event at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, home of the WNBA’s reigning champion New York Liberty, the company made a set of programming announcements.
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Two new sports ventures are joining the ION lineup. One is the Elevance Health Women’s Fort Myers Tip-Off, an early season college basketball tournament held over Thanksgiving weekend. Scripps Sports has locked up rights for five years from the agency Intersport, which manages the tournament.
Since launching in 2022, the Fort Myers Tip-Off has been a draw for prominent teams, among them South Carolina, Tennessee, Maryland, Purdue and others.
Scripps is also teaming with media outlet Sports Illustrated on the SI Women’s Games, a biennial all-star competition featuring elite athletes in six sports. The debut edition is set for Oceanside, CA from October 28 to November 2.
Live women’s sports is a key pillar in the company’s overall strategy, notably the WNBA and the National Women’s Soccer League. Ratings for a range of women’s sports properties have been rising dramatically in recent years, with ad buyers also attracted to the enthusiastic viewership. Rather than devoting resources to originals, ION’s programming budget is mostly targeted to sports, along with the acquired series it programs in prime time.
ION is in the final year of its deal to broadcast Friday night WNBA games. While WNBA rights are part of a broader rights package with NBA games, which are changing partners for the 2025-26 season (with Amazon and NBCUniversal entering the picture with Disney-ESPN), the Friday night slot remains available. ION execs say they are remaining in discussions with the league about continuing as a media partner.
Beyond ION, Scripps also said it had renewed two of its most popular series: Court TV’s Interview with a Killer and Bounce TV’s Mind Your Business.
Interview, a true-crime series hosted by David Scott, became Court TV’s most-watched original when it debuted last fall. The new season will kick off April 13 with a 2-hour episode about Gary Michael Hilton, who calls himself the oldest serial killer in America.
Mind Your Business, which received an NAACP Image Award nomination, is returning for a second season on June 7.
The series focuses on the Williams family, which operates an event and party space in Chicago. Ensemble cast members include Columbus Short (Scandal, Stomp the Yard), Drew Sidora (The Real Housewives of Atlanta, That’s So Raven) and Rolonda Watts (Rolonda).
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