CINCINNATI, Ohio – The E.W. Scripps Company’s board of directors has agreed to proceed with the merger of the Scripps cable television division with Comcast Corporation.In exchange for the cable systems, Scripps shareholders will receive approximately 93 million shares of Comcast stock with a market value of approximately $1.49 billion, based on Monday’s closing price. The Comcast shares will be distributed directly to Scripps shareholders on a tax-free basis. For each share of Scripps owned, the holder will receive approximately 1.159 Comcast shares.The parties expect to close the transaction tomorrow, Nov. 13. The New York Stock Exchange anticipates that it will begin “when-issued” trading of the new Scripps security (the company excluding cable television) on Thursday, Nov. 14. The symbol will remain “SSP.”After completion of the deal, Scripps will operate through three divisions:· Newspapers: Daily newspapers in 16 markets across the nation with total circulation of 1.2 million daily and 1.3 million on Sunday.· Broadcast television: Nine large-market stations; six affiliated with the ABC network and three affiliated with NBC.· Entertainment: Home & Garden Television (HGTV), one of the nation’s fastest growing new networks; United Media, worldwide licensor and syndicator of comic strips and characters including PEANUTS and DILBERT; Cinetel Productions, a leading producer of programming for the cable networks; and Scripps Howard Productions, creator of programming primarily for the broadcast networks.In the nine months ended Sept. 30, Scripps (excluding cable television) had total revenues of $797 million and operating cash flow (operating income plus depreciation and amortization) of $193 million. In the 12 months ended Sept. 30, total revenues were $1.1 billion and operating cash flow was $266 million.