Cablevision purchased Newsday today. This newspaper that serves Long Island and is very popular in the borough of Queens has the largest circulation of suburban newspapers in America and is ranked sixth of the nation’s regional newspapers. Newsday can also be purchased and delivered throughout New York City but the tabloid hardly competes with Rupert Murdoch’s disgusting rag, The New York Post and Mort Zuckerman’s Daily News.
Both Murdoch and Zuckerman had bids in but Charles Dolan has deeper pockets and now has way too much influence in areas that surround Manhattan. Some Long Island and Queens residents will get all of their news from a pretty scary and very powerful family.
The Tribune's motivation was obvious. After going private they are strapped for cash. Cablevision taking this step has financial analyst scratching their heads.
Investors have been skeptical about the benefits to Cablevision from the deal, given that it hasn't operated a newspaper before and the newspaper industry is struggling as readers and advertisers move to the Internet.
"It's incredibly hard to fathom why they want to expand into the newspaper business," said Richard Greenfield, a media analyst with Pali Capital. "Why are they putting dollars towards newspapers rather than buying their own stock?"
Perhaps it is just to convince their customers that the Knicks and Rangers are the best New York sports teams. They did fight with City Hall and win when the prospect of a Jet game being played in the same neighborhood as the Dolan owned Madison Square Garden came up.
In 2004 and 2005, Cablevision provided funding for an advertising campaign against the proposed construction of a stadium on the West Side of Manhattan supported by the Mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg. The stadium would have principally served the New York Jets, and was an essential part of New York City's failed bid for the 2012 Olympics. Cablevision had offered a competitive bid that far exceeded the bid of the Jets for property owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, where the new stadium would have been located.
Maybe they just want to remind everyone over and over that Radio City Music Hall, the Theater at Madison Square Garden and the Beacon Theater are the best places to see a concert.
Maybe it is just about power and influence. Many customers will wake up to a Cablevison news channel, pick up a Cablevison newspaper when the walk out their door and come home to login to Cablevison's Optimum Online when they want to check the internet. They have many telephone customers and now they want our Wi-Fi too.
Whatever it is this is another step backwards for freedom of the press and there is nobody there to stop this family that always gets what they want.
Now the Dolans can get public opinion on their side too. I think that is very scary and I remember a time not too long ago when my elected officials felt the same way. I miss those days when news made it to my neighbor's homes.
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