Analysts in the blogosphere and elsewhere continue to talk about what a good pair Sam Zell and Rupert Murdoch would make in a deal to sell Zell's (and Tribune's) Newsday. But they also can't ignore the fact that Cablevision seems to be offering up $70 million more (a premium of over more than 10%) than Murdoch's News Corp.
In his blog today, Ken Doctor (a former Knight Ridder now consulting on media issues) paints a picture of how Cablevision could profit by taking on Newsday. "Is it a "TV-centric" time, as someone close to the Dolan family, who control Cablevision, said?," Doctor asks. "TV-centric misses the point. It's more video-forward than TV-centric. News video is now here to stay."
"There's no doubt that web newsies want the best coverage in one place -- words and pictures," says Doctor. "There's no doubt that if some bright-eyed market entrant were to start a news-gathering and ad-selling operation, she'd do it as a single operation, not as separate "TV" and "newspaper" businesses.
He adds: "That of course is the challenge of synergy. Combining existing staffs and hierarchies, with their skills and skills deficits, is in reality much harder than a white-board exercise. But someone is going to make it work, and Cablevision may be the next to try."
--Noel Rubinton