The McGraw-Hill Companies Completes Sale of Broadcasting Group to E.W. Scripps

NEW YORK, Dec. 30, 2011 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP) today completed the sale of its Broadcasting Group to The E.W. Scripps Company. As previously announced, the purchase price of the nine-station Broadcasting Group was $212 million in cash.

The divestiture of the Broadcasting Group, a non-core asset, was carried out pursuant to the Corporation's Growth and Value Plan, which will create two focused operating companies, McGraw-Hill Financial and McGraw-Hill Education, and is designed to accelerate growth and enhance shareholder value.

"I thank the talented men and women of these stations for their valuable contributions to McGraw-Hill and know they are joining a respected media organization where they will continue delivering news, insights and entertainment," said Harold McGraw III, Chairman, President and CEO of The McGraw-Hill Companies. "Completing this transaction demonstrates good progress on our Growth and Value Plan. As we close out 2011, we are excited about the opportunities ahead."

The Broadcasting Group includes ABC affiliates in Denver, Colorado (KMGH-TV), San Diego, California (KGTV), Bakersfield, California (KERO-TV), Indianapolis, Indiana (WRTV) and Azteca America affiliates in Denver, Fort Collins, Colorado Springs, San Diego and Bakersfield.

About The McGraw-Hill Companies:

McGraw-Hill announced on September 12, 2011, its intention to separate into two public companies: McGraw-Hill Financial, a leading provider of content and analytics to global financial markets, and McGraw-Hill Education, a leading education company focused on digital learning and education services worldwide.  McGraw-Hill Financial's leading brands include Standard & Poor's Ratings Services, S&P Capital IQ, S&P Indices, Platts energy information services and J.D. Power and Associates.  With sales of $6.2 billion in 2010, the Corporation has approximately 21,000 employees across more than 280 offices in 40 countries.  Additional information is available at http://www.mcgraw-hill.com/. 

Forward-Looking Statements:

The forward-looking statements in this news release (identified by the future tense and words like "expects," "targeted" and "projected") involve risks and uncertainties, are subject to change, and actual results may differ materially from the Corporation's expectations, based on various important factors, including worldwide economic, financial, liquidity, political and regulatory conditions; the health of debt (including U.S. residential mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations), equity and commodities markets, including possible future interest rate changes; the health of the economy and in advertising; the level of expenditures and state new adoptions and open territory sales in the education market; the successful marketing of competitive products; and the effect of competitive products and pricing. Additional factors that could cause results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found in McGraw-Hill's 2010 Annual Report on Form 10-K which, along with the Corporation's other filings with the SEC, are available on the SEC's website (www.sec.gov).

Investor Relations:
Donald S. Rubin
Senior Vice President, Investor Relations
(212) 512-4321 (office)
[email protected]

News Media:
Patti Rockenwagner
Senior Vice President, Marketing and Communications
(212) 512-3533 (office)
[email protected]

Jason Feuchtwanger
Director, Corporate Media Relations
212-512-3151 (office)
347-419-4169 (cell)
[email protected]

SOURCE The McGraw-Hill Companies