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Scripps' New HGTV HD Channel Ingests HDTV Content With Snell & Wilcox MEMPHIS Encoders

Snell & Wilcox MEMPHIS Systems Encode All HD Material for New Channel, Ensuring Exceptional Picture Quality and Providing Robust Platform for Future HD Launches

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HAMPSHIRE, U.K. -- Oct. 10, 2006 -- To ensure it delivers the highest possible image quality to its viewers, Scripps Networks has standardized on the Snell & Wilcox MEMPHIS encoder to ingest all its HDTV content as part of the recent launch of the company's new HGTV HD service. Using the MEMPHIS HD system to encode all HGTV program material shot on HD cameras, as well as HD commercials and promos, Scripps has been able to ensure that all of its HD content maintains the superior picture quality so critical to HD broadcasting.

"Picture quality is paramount for an HDTV service, so in the early planning stages of our HDTV service, we conducted comparison tests among encoding solutions in order to make sure we would make the best choice. We selected the Snell & Wilcox MEMPHIS system because of its overall quality and also because it's supported by a company with a very good reputation," said Jerry Nantz, chief engineer at Scripps Networks. "Integration of the MEMPHIS was easy, and Snell & Wilcox was helpful in recommending the right configurations for our operations."

Two MEMPHIS systems were installed at Scripps' Knoxville, Tenn., broadcast operations center as part of a new HD layer that also supported the launch of the Food Network in HD in late June of this year. HGTV uses the Snell & Wilcox encoders to ingest material into Omneon Spectrum media server systems, which have been fully integrated with the MEMPHIS encoder.

Based on two Emmy® Award-winning technologies from Snell & Wilcox, Ph.C motion estimation and Prefix compression preprocessing, MEMPHIS brings compression efficiency to unprecedented levels while providing the dual benefits of improved picture quality for the viewer and lower bandwidth usage for the broadcaster. MEMPHIS integrates seamlessly into existing environments, accepting both SD and HD 1080/720 inputs, uncompressed PCM, MP1L2, Dolby E, and AC-3 audio, and encoding material at any MPEG-2 profile.

HGTV HD went live on April 10, 2006. Like the Scripps operations center itself, the new HD installation at Scripps was completed with the assistance of systems integrator Ascent Media (formerly A.F. Associates).

More information about MEMPHIS is available at www.snellwilcox.com/memphis.

About Scripps Networks
Scripps Networks is comprised of the lifestyle television brands HGTV, Food Network, DIY Network, FINE LIVING TV NETWORK and country music network Great American Country (GAC). Scripps is the leading developer of lifestyle-oriented content for television and the Internet, where on-air programming is complemented with online content.

In addition, Scripps Networks has launched HGTV and Food Network in high definition, and is aggressively developing its emerging media platforms for broadband and video on demand. Scripps Networks' brands collectively are available in more than 160 countries and territories on all seven continents. They also are distributed to more than 1,000 outlets on U.S. military bases and U.S. embassies around the world via the American Forces Radio and Television Service.

Headquartered in Knoxville, Tenn., with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta, Nashville and San Francisco, Scripps Networks is owned by The E.W. Scripps Company (NYSE:SSP), a diverse media concern with interests in newspaper publishing, broadcast television, national television networks and interactive media. Scripps operates 21 daily newspapers, 10 broadcast TV stations, Scripps Howard News Service, United Media, and Shopzilla.com.

Snell & Wilcox designs and builds the world's most advanced systems for video playout, mastering, repurposing, infrastructure, and live production switching. Providing solutions that deliver immediate value while enabling a controlled and cost-effective transition to HD and file-based systems, the company serves a worldwide base of customers in the broadcast, post-production, cable, satellite, and IPTV markets. In business since 1973, Snell & Wilcox maintains its U.S. headquarters in Burbank, Calif., and European headquarters in Hampshire, U.K. Additional offices are located in New York, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Lebanon, Malaysia, and Russia. Visit www.snellwilcox.com for more information.

Press Contact: Susan Warren, Wall Street Communications, Phone: +1 631 261 1013. E-mail: susan@wallstreetcom.tv.

Snell & Wilcox, Putting Pictures to Work, MEMPHIS, Ph.C, and Prefix are all trademarks of the Snell & Wilcox Group. All other trademarks mentioned herein are acknowledged as the property of their respective owners.