Universal Uclick to Provide Syndicate Services for United Media

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Feb 24, 2011, 09:29 ET

CINCINNATI, Feb. 24, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Under the terms of a new outsourcing arrangement, Universal Uclick, the largest independent syndicate in the world and a division of Andrews McMeel Universal, will provide syndication services for the 150 news features and comics of United Media, which is owned by The E.W. Scripps Company (NYSE: SSP).

Universal Uclick will provide editorial and production services, sales and marketing, sales support and customer service, and distribution and fulfillment for all the news features and comics of United Media, including Pearls before Swine, Get Fuzzy, Marmaduke, Frank & Ernest, the Born Loser, Big Nate and Miss Manners.

Scripps will continue to own certain copyrights and control the licenses for those properties, and will manage the business relationships with the creative talent that produces those comics and features. The transition of the services begins immediately and is expected to be completed by June 1, 2011.

"After we sold United Media's licensing operations in 2010 to focus on our core news and journalism enterprises, we set out to construct the best operating model for the remaining syndicate, whose primary customers are newspapers across America," said Rich Boehne, Scripps president and CEO. "A review of our operations – and the marketplace we serve – made it clear that we should seek greater efficiency by teaming up with one of the other remaining players. In Andrews McMeel we found the scale and skills to carry forward the comic properties we have nurtured for many years."

The Scripps Howard News Service, a leading syndicator of national news, in-depth reporting and analysis, will continue to be operated in Washington, D.C., by The E.W. Scripps Company, as it has been for nearly 100 years.

About Scripps

The E.W. Scripps Company (http://www.scripps.com) is a diverse media enterprise with interests in television stations, newspapers, local news and information Web sites, and syndication of news features and comics.

SOURCE The E.W. Scripps Company