13D Filing: GAMCO Investors and E.W. Scripps Co (SSP)

This Amendment No. 10 to Schedule 13D on the Common Stock of The E.W. Scripps Company (the “Issuer”) is being filed on behalf of the undersigned to amend the Schedule 13D, as amended (the “Schedule 13D”) which was originally filed on April 6, 2015.  Unless otherwise indicated, all capitalized terms used herein but not defined herein shall have the same meanings as set forth in the Schedule 13D.

Item 2 to Schedule 13D is amended, in pertinent part, as follows:

This statement is being filed by Mario J. Gabelli (“Mario Gabelli”) and various entities which he

directly or indirectly controls or for which he acts as chief investment officer.  These entities, except for LICT Corporation (“LICT), CIBL, Inc. (“CIBL”) and ICTC Group, Inc. (“ICTC”), engage in various aspects of the securities business, primarily as investment adviser to various institutional and individual clients, including registered investment companies and pension plans, and as general partner or the equivalent of various private investment partnerships or private funds.  Certain of these entities may also make investments for their own accounts.

The foregoing persons in the aggregate often own beneficially more than 5% of a class of equity securities of a particular issuer.  Although several of the foregoing persons are treated as institutional investors for purposes of reporting their beneficial ownership on the short-form Schedule 13G, the holdings of those who do not qualify as institutional investors may exceed the 1% threshold presented for filing on Schedule 13G or implementation of their investment philosophy may from time to time require action which could be viewed as not completely passive.  In order to avoid any question as to whether their beneficial ownership is being reported on the proper form and in order to provide greater investment flexibility and administrative uniformity, these persons have decided to file their beneficial ownership reports on the more detailed Schedule 13D form rather than on the short-form Schedule 13G and thereby to provide more expansive disclosure than may be necessary.

(a), (b) and (c) – This statement is being filed by one or more of the following persons: GGCP, Inc.  (“GGCP”), GGCP Holdings LLC (“GGCP Holdings”), GAMCO Investors, Inc. (“GBL”), Associated Capital Group, Inc. (“AC”), Gabelli Funds, LLC (“Gabelli Funds”), GAMCO Asset Management Inc. (“GAMCO”), Teton Advisors, Inc. (“Teton Advisors”), Gabelli & Company Investment Advisers, Inc. (“GCIA”), G.research, LLC (“G.research”), MJG Associates, Inc. (“MJG Associates”), Gabelli Foundation, Inc. (“Foundation”), MJG-IV Limited Partnership (“MJG-IV”),  Mario Gabelli, LICT, CIBL and ICTC.  Those of the foregoing persons signing this Schedule 13D are hereinafter referred to as the “Reporting Persons”.

GGCP makes investments for its own account and is the manager and a member of GGCP Holdings which is the controlling shareholder of GBL and AC.  GBL, a public company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, is the parent company for a variety of companies engaged in the securities business, including certain of those named below.  AC, a public company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, is the parent company for a variety of companies engaged in the securities business, including certain of those listed below.

GAMCO, a wholly-owned subsidiary of GBL, is an investment adviser registered under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended (“Advisers Act”).  GAMCO is an investment manager providing discretionary managed account services for employee benefit plans, private investors, endowments, foundations and others.

GCIA, a wholly owned subsidiary of AC, is an investment adviser registered under the Advisers Act and serves as a general partner or investment manager to limited partnerships and offshore investment companies and other accounts.  As a part of its business, GCIA may purchase or sell securities for its own account.  GCIA is a general partner or investment manager of a number of funds or partnerships, including Gabelli Associates Fund, L.P., Gabelli Associates Fund II, L.P., Gabelli Associates Limited, Gabelli Associates Limited II E, ALCE Partners, L.P., Gabelli Capital Structure Arbitrage Fund LP, Gabelli Capital Structure Arbitrage Fund Limited, Gabelli Intermediate Credit Fund L.P., GAMA Select Energy + L.P., GAMCO Medical Opportunities L.P., and Gabelli Multimedia Partners, L.P.

G.research, a wholly owned subsidiary of GCIA, is a broker-dealer registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (“1934 Act”), which as a part of its business regularly purchases and sells securities for its own account.

Gabelli Funds, a wholly owned subsidiary of GBL, is a limited liability company. Gabelli Funds is an investment adviser registered under the Advisers Act which provides advisory services for The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc., The Gabelli Asset Fund, The GAMCO Growth Fund, The Gabelli Convertible and Income Securities Fund Inc., The Gabelli Value 25 Fund Inc., The Gabelli Small Cap Growth Fund, The Gabelli Equity Income Fund, The Gabelli ABC Fund, The Gabelli Global Content & Connectivity Fund, The Gabelli Gold Fund, Inc., The Gabelli Multimedia Trust Inc., The Gabelli Global Rising Income & Dividend Fund, The Gabelli Capital Asset Fund, The GAMCO International Growth Fund, Inc., The GAMCO Global Growth Fund, The Gabelli Utility Trust, The Gabelli International Small Cap Fund, The Gabelli Utilities Fund, The Gabelli Dividend Growth Fund, The GAMCO Mathers Fund, The Gabelli Focus Five Fund, The Comstock Capital Value Fund, The Gabelli Dividend and Income Trust, The Gabelli Global Utility & Income Trust, The GAMCO Global Gold, Natural Resources, & Income Trust, The GAMCO Natural Resources Gold & Income Trust, The GDL Fund, Gabelli Enterprise Mergers & Acquisitions Fund, The Gabelli ESG Fund, Inc., The Gabelli Healthcare & Wellness ^Rx Trust, The Gabelli Global Small and Mid Cap Value Trust, Gabelli Value Plus+ Trust, Gabelli Merger Plus+ Trust, The Gabelli Go Anywhere Trust, Bancroft Fund Ltd. and Ellsworth Growth & Income Fund Ltd. (collectively, the “Funds”), which are registered investment companies.  Gabelli Funds is also the investment adviser to the Gabelli Media Mogul NextShares, the Gabelli Food of All Nations NextShares and The GAMCO International SICAV (sub-funds GAMCO Merger Arbitrage and GAMCO All Cap Value), a UCITS III vehicle.

Teton Advisors, an investment adviser registered under the Advisers Act, provides discretionary advisory services to The TETON Westwood Mighty Mites^sm Fund, The TETON Westwood Income Fund, The TETON Westwood SmallCap Equity Fund, The TETON Westwood Mid-Cap Equity Fund, and The TETON Westwood Intermediate Bond Fund.

MJG Associates provides advisory services to private investment partnerships and offshore funds.  Mario Gabelli is the sole shareholder, director and employee of MJG Associates.   MJG Associates is the Investment Manager of Gabelli International Limited and Gabelli Fund, LDC.  Mario J. Gabelli is the general partner of Gabelli Performance Partnership, LP.

The Foundation is a private foundation.  Mario Gabelli is the Chairman, a Trustee and the Investment Manager of the Foundation. Elisa M. Wilson is the President of the Foundation.

LICT is a holding company with operating subsidiaries engaged primarily in the rural telephone industry. LICT actively pursues new business ventures and acquisitions. LICT makes investments in marketable securities to preserve capital and maintain liquidity for financing their business activities and acquisitions and are not engaged in the business of investing, or trading in securities. Mario J. Gabelli is the Chief Executive Officer, a director, and substantial shareholder of LICT.

ICTC is a holding company with subsidiaries in voice, broadband and other telecommunications services, primarily in the rural telephone industry. ICTC makes investments in marketable securities to preserve capital and maintain liquidity for financing their business activities and acquisitions and are not engaged in the business of investing, or trading in securities. Mario J. Gabelli is a director, and substantial shareholder of ICTC.

CIBL is a holding company with interests in telecommunications operations, primarily in the rural telephone industry. CIBL actively pursues new business ventures and acquisitions. CIBL makes investments in marketable securities to preserve capital and maintain liquidity for financing their business activities and acquisitions and are not engaged in the business of investing, or trading in securities. Mario J. Gabelli is a director, and substantial shareholder of CIBL.

Mario Gabelli is the controlling stockholder, Chief Executive Officer and a director of GGCP and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of GBL. He is the Executive Chairman of AC.  Mario Gabelli is also a member of GGCP Holdings. Mario Gabelli is the controlling shareholder of Teton.

                             MJG-IV is a family partnership in which Mario Gabelli is the general partner.  Mario Gabelli has less than a 100% interest in MJG-IV.  MJG-IV makes investments for its own account.  Mario Gabelli disclaims ownership of the securities held by MJG-IV beyond his pecuniary interest.

The Reporting Persons do not admit that they constitute a group.

GAMCO is a New York corporation and GBL, AC, GCIA, and Teton Advisors are Delaware corporations, each having its principal business office at One Corporate Center, Rye, New York 10580. GGCP is a Wyoming corporation having its principal business office at 140 Greenwich Avenue, Greenwich, CT 06830.   GGCP Holdings is a Delaware limited liability corporation having its principal business office at 140 Greenwich Avenue, Greenwich, CT 06830.  G.research is a Delaware limited liability company having its principal officers at One Corporate Center, Rye, New York 10580.  Gabelli Funds is a New York limited liability company having its principal business office at One Corporate Center, Rye, New York 10580.  MJG Associates is a Connecticut corporation having its principal business office at 140 Greenwich Avenue, Greenwich, CT 06830.  The Foundation is a Nevada corporation having its principal offices at 165 West Liberty Street, Reno, Nevada 89501.  LICT is a Delaware corporation having its principal place of business as 401 Theodore Fremd Avenue, Rye, New York 10580. CIBL, Inc. is a Delaware corporation having its principal place of business as 165 West Liberty Street, Suite 220, Reno, NV 89501.  ICTC Group Inc. is a Delaware corporation having its principal place of business as 556 Main Street, Nome, North Dakota 58062.

For information required by instruction C to Schedule 13D with respect to the executive officers and directors of the foregoing entities and other related persons (collectively, “Covered Persons”), reference is made to Schedule I annexed hereto and incorporated herein by reference.

(d) – Not applicable.

(e) – Not applicable.

Item 3 to Schedule 13D is amended, in pertinent part, as follows:

The Reporting Persons used an aggregate of approximately $238,760 to purchase the additional Securities reported as beneficially owned in Item 5 since the most recent filing on Schedule 13D.  GAMCO used approximately $238,760 of funds that were provided through the accounts of certain of their investment advisory clients (and, in the case of some of such accounts at GAMCO, may be through borrowings from client margin accounts) in order to purchase the additional Securities for such clients.

Item 4.                   Purpose of Transaction

                Item 4 to Schedule 13D is amended, in pertinent part, as follows:

                On August 16, 2017, GAMCO announced that “in light of the upcoming deadline to submit director nominations for consideration at the Issuer’s 2018 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, GAMCO, on behalf of its investment advisory clients, is currently evaluating all of its options.”

               GAMCO intends on moving forward with the submission of nominations of up to three individuals for election to the Issuer’s Board of Directors.

               GAMCO will provide the Issuer with information on such individuals in accordance with the procedures outlined in the Issuer’s proxy statement.

Item 5 to Schedule 13D is amended, in pertinent part, as follows:

 (a) The aggregate number of Securities to which this Schedule 13D relates is 11,334,913 shares, representing 16.14% of the approximately 70,245,801 Class A Common shares outstanding as reported in the Issuer’s most recently filed Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ending June 30, 2017.  The Reporting Persons beneficially own those Securities as follows:

Mario Gabelli is deemed to have beneficial ownership of the Securities owned beneficially by each of the foregoing persons.  GCIA is deemed to have beneficial ownership of the Securities owned beneficially by G.research.  AC, GBL and GGCP are deemed to have beneficial ownership of the Securities owned beneficially by each of the foregoing persons other than Mario Gabelli and the Foundation.

(b) Each of the Reporting Persons and Covered Persons has the sole power to vote or direct the vote and sole power to dispose or to direct the disposition of the Securities reported for it, either for its own benefit or for the benefit of its investment clients or its partners, as the case may be, except that (i) GAMCO does not have the authority to vote 454,202 of its reported shares, (ii) Gabelli Funds has sole dispositive and voting power with respect to the shares of the Issuer held by the Funds so long as the aggregate voting interest of all joint filers does not exceed 25% of their total voting interest in the Issuer and, in that event, the Proxy Voting Committee of each Fund shall respectively vote that Fund’s shares, (iii) at any time, the Proxy Voting Committee of each such Fund may take and exercise in its sole discretion the entire voting power with respect to the shares held by such fund under special  circumstances such as regulatory considerations, and (iv) the power of Mario Gabelli, AC, GBL, and GGCP is indirect with respect to Securities beneficially owned directly by other Reporting Persons.

(c) Information with respect to all transactions in the Securities which were effected during the past sixty days or since the most recent filing on Schedule 13D, whichever is less, by each of the Reporting Persons and Covered Persons is set forth on Schedule II annexed hereto and incorporated herein by reference.

 (e) Not applicable.