Net income was up to US$84.1 million, or 51 cents per share, from $68.5 million, or 42 cents, a year earlier. Sales increased 6.8 percent to $642.5 million, exceeding the $623.5 million estimates from analysts, Bloomberg reported.

The HGTV and Food Network channels were the key revenue drivers at the cable-TV unit, while revenue dropped at the newspaper business. Scripps plans to separate the cable and interactive businesses from its 15 daily papers and 10 local broadcast TV stations by the end of the current quarter.

"Scripps's cable-TV channels are still getting some good pricing. Cable is growing its audience, while traditional media continues to lose share. For newspaper and network TV, there's no stopping the bleeding in the near term,'' said Brian Shipman, an analyst at Jefferies & Co.

Scripps price rose 49 cents to $43.79 Wednesday in New York Stock Exchange. The shares have declined 2.7 percent this year, according to Bloomberg.

Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Lowe will head the new Scripps Networks Interactive cable company which includes the HGTV channel and the Web sites Shopzilla and uSwitch. After the split, the cable company will hold about $450 million in debt, and the local media company will have about $50 million, Scripps said last month.