Adam Symson: Last News

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorCan the venerable Scripps National Spelling Bee take on the look of a Winter Olympics or “American Idol”? Its backers are about to find out.Organizers of the event, which has kept Americans trying to figure out how to connect the right letters for words ranging from “sanitarium” to “xanthosis” for nearly a century, want to add new elements to the mix that might make the contest look less like something for elementary-school students and more like “America’s Got Talent.”Actor LeVar Burton, known for his turn as the host of public television’s “Reading Rainbow,” is joining the proceedings. And producers hope to boost “the Bee” with backstage looks at contestants and a set of vignettes that give viewers a peek at how the spelling champions made their way from school competitions to the national stage.

Cynthia Littleton Business EditorE.W. Scripps Co., one of the nation’s oldest mass media companies, has joined the growing list of content owners investing big in free streaming channels in an effort to bridge the transition to a new era of television.As Scripps CEO Adam Symson explains to Variety podcast “Strictly Business,” it’s a matter of simple math.