Cablevision Raising ‘Newsday’ Stakes: Reports
Cable Operator Said To Be Readying $650 Million Bid
-- Multichannel News, 5/1/2008 8:06:00 AM
The New York metro area cable company, according to reports, is preparing to make a $650 million to purchase the Long Island-centric newspaper from the Tribune Co.
Such an offer would top the $580 million bid by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., which owns the New York Post that was matched by Mortimer Zuckerman, the owner of the Daily News. Both of those newspapers compete with Newsday in the Big Apple arena.
The interests for Bethpage, N.Y.-headquartered Cablevision, according to the reports, could be tied to bundling newspaper ads with local cable avails the operator controls via its systems that serve throughout Long Island..
The Observer Media Group, publisher of The New York Observer, has evidently withdrawn from the bidding. Last week, the media company was reported to have tried to entice Cablevision to make a joint bid for the Tribune-owned property
Cablevision officials couldn’t immediately be reached by press time
