Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) and Madison Square Garden Company CEO James Dolan have enlisted a team of bankers to explore the possibility of buying the New York Daily News, rival publication the New York Post reported Tuesday.
The paper cites an unnamed source as saying Dolan's interest is a natural extension of Cablevision's current ownership of Newsday.
Of course, the decimated newspaper business makes pay-TV look like an explosive growth sector by comparison. And the Post's Emily Smith jumps into a little speculation as to other reasons why Dolan would covet this asset beyond some kind of synergy with Newsday.
Specifically, she cites a "10-year-feud" between Dolan and the better part of the Daily News' editorial staff. Smith says this dates back to 2005, when the paper backed Mayor Mike Bloomberg's plan to build West Side Stadium, a venue which would have competed directly with Dolan's MSG interests.
The relationship steadily deteriorated from there, bottoming out in 2012 when the Daily News ran a skull-and-crossbones graphic, complete with the word "toxic" in bold print, under Dolan's picture on its front page.
Of course, Smith is only speculating that petty grievances would occupy the mind of the CEO of a major telecommunications company, causing him to look at a retracting, fruitless industry at a time when his core business is being totally transformed.
For more:
- read this New York Post story
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