The E.W. Scripps Company said fourth quarter revenue surged 32 percent to $260M, while profit more than quadrupled to $26.M on gains from acquisitions and political advertising.

Rich Boehne, president and CEO, said the newspaper and TV station operator’s  repositioning “really paid off in the fourth quarter, and in all of 2012.”

The Q4 revenue gains reflect the purchase of four TV stations it acquired in late 2011. Revenue for the year climbed 8.7%, excluding acquisitions, to $903M.

Scripps said replacing expensive and underperforming syndicated shows with internally produced programming like “Let’s Ask America” and “The List” also contributed to revenue gains. TV revenue nearly doubled to $152M for the quarter with local ads up 11% (%4.9M) and national ads ticking up 12% ($25.9M). Political advertising hit $56.9M in the presidential election year, compared with only $3.5M a year earlier.

Newspaper revenues slipped 4.6% to $105M over Q4 of 2011, including a 3.4% decline in circulation revenue and 5.7% decline in ad revenue to $63.8M. Digital revenue climbed to $6.6M.

Boehne said its newspapers performed in line with expectations because of improving trends in some markets as well as “disciplined expense control.” He expects a “bundled” subscription strategy with print and digital to roll out in the first half of 2013.

Scripps reported cash and equivalents of $243M and total debt of $196M. The company forecast TV revenues to be flat in Q1, while newspapers will likely decline in the low to mid-single digits. It expects to spend $22M this year on building out its digital operations.

TIMES TO ‘REBRAND’ INT’L HERALD TRIBUNE
The New York Times Co. said it will rebrand the International Herald Tribune as theInternational New York Times with a launch slated for later in the year.

Chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. called the move a “logical next step” to extend the Times’ international reach.

The International NY Times will be edited from Hong Kong, Paris, London and New York.

CEO Mark Thompson said the digital era has turned the Times from a great American newspaper to “one of the world’s best-known news providers.” He said the Times wants to “exploit that opportunity” to gain international audiences, subscribers and advertisers.