Cablevision Systems Corporation

Ante up!

Now suddenly everyone is interested in Newsday. The New York Times is reporting that a Manhattan media blockbuster trio is "in discussions" to buy the Melville-based newspaper: Rupert Murdoch, James Dolan and Mort Zuckerman. Sam Zell decides who's the winner.

It sets up a satisfying auction between Mr. Murdoch (Post-owner) and Mr. Zuckerman (Daily News-owner) and Mr. Dolan, who owns MSG, the Knicks, Rangers and Cablevision.  read more »

The spokeswoman for Albany DA David Soares is leaving to work for Congresswoman-elect Kirsten Gillibrand.

Serph Maltese may have been approached to join Eliot Spitzer's administration.

Cablevision is looking to hire a lobbyist who knows how to make political contributions.

State Senator Jose Serrano says it's an "irony" that while some legislators are reluctant to make their member items public, they are unwilling to distribute the money evenly across the aisle."

Kos prefers the word "escalate" rather than "surge" to describe the plan for changing the troop level in Iraq.

Greg Sargent is surprised to see Fox referring to Iraq War opposition as mainstream.

And drivers get free drinks for New Year's.

-- Azi Paybarah

Steven Roth lost the deal to lease the World Trade Center five years ago this month.  read more »

We thought the new weekend edition of The Wall Street Journal was supposed to be devoted to stories about killing your date with stiletto heels, but Saturday’s issue mopped up a bit after Crain’s bombshell last week reporting Madison Square Garden’s pending move. A memorandum of understanding was indeed signed, but it was nonbinding, and it was signed “several weeks ago” between Cablevision, the owner of the Garden, and Vornado and Related, which would plop the arena a block west, on the far end of the Farley Post Office that they are turning into a train station. The agreement, the Journal reported, is not finalized. A source close to the deal assured us that the article is accurate but that there would be no official announcement today. -Matthew Schuerman

Crain's is reporting that the Dolans have finally agreed to rebuild the jinxy Madison Square Garden one block west, on Ninth Avenue, as part of the renovation of the Farley post-office building. They're sourcing it anonymously.

A new office tower would go up above Penn Station instead.  read more »

[A] source said The Related Cos. brokered the deal by smoothing over hard feelings remaining from the West Side stadium fight between the Bloomberg administration and Cablevision executive James Dolan, the Garden’s chairman.

Meanwhile, office and retail development originally scheduled for the western end of the Farley block will be scotched to make way for the new Garden. - Tom McGeveran

In this morning's round-up of Observer stories, I left out Matt Schuerman's piece on the strange, grim politics of Proposition 2, a transportation bond issue.

In general, the two big propositions are both hugely important and very hard to cover, as they're fought out on the margins of people's consciousness. The process, though, doesn't inspire a lot of confidence in California-style referendum systems.  read more »

The push for Proposition 2, for example, is being accomplished with taxpayer money in ads in subway cars and, it seems, as almost an afterthought on some of Mike's campaign literature. (He's clearly feeling confident enough to allow the distraction.)

Meanwhile, half-a-million dollars worth of the support for Proposition One -- which would shift the balance of power in Albany toward the Legislature, appears to be coming as Cablevision's way of saying "thank you" for blocking the Jets Stadium.

A reader with an eye on the media-buying world writes that Virginia hasn't bought any broadcast television slots, but is spending $25,000 on Time Warner for today and tomorrow, and supposedly going on Cablevision next week. "All signs point to a campaign living hand-to-mouth."  read more »

It's traditional for Mayors to take credit for the success of local sports teams; and since they take credit or blame for the economy, over which they have only slightly more control, it's probably fair.

Anyway, Mike Bloomberg's apparent help in signing Al Leiter was a typical case.  read more »

But one reader notes that, for some reason, the Mayor seems not to have been involved in the Cablevision-Knicks' recruitment of their new coach, Larry Brown.

Crain's is speculating that Extell's offer for the MTA rail-yards in Brooklyn will force Forest City Ratner Companies to lower the height of the 17 towers in its plan, one of which is supposed to reach 600 feet.

Meanwhile, The New York Times editorial board tsk-tsks both developers for not divulging the juicy details, like price, even before the M.T.A. does.

What is the Times looking for, a leak? That's how Cablevision and the Jets handled their bids for the West Side. The only trouble was the leaks told only half the story.

An MTA spokesman tells The Real Estate it will release details of the two offers once it briefs its board members--maybe as soon as this week.  read more »

--Matthew Schuerman

The debate over anti-terrorism measures in the MTA is obviously hampered by the same circumstances that prompt it. How can you point out security flaws in the system without exposing them to would-be terrorists? That was the problem some Tribeca residents grappled with until they decided to go public about the telecom hotel at 60 Hudson Street. The building was issued a variance allowing it to store high levels of diesel fuel—more than would normally be permissible under city building codes. "I live a block and a half away from this building... and four years ago I started negotiations with Patricia Lancaster (Buildings Commissioner) and hoped this could be resolved without going public," said former Board 1 chair and LMDC board member Madelyn Wils at a rally in front of the building Sunday. New York Civil Liberties Union head Norm Siegel was there, too. "We don't want talk about it because we don't want to be part of a self-fulfilling prophecy," he said referring to fear of a possible terrorist attack on the building. "Now going public, people are going to say we're responsible if something happens, but we have no choice." Congressman Jerrold Nadler, Councilmember Alan Gerson and State Senator Martin Connor were also there. "A school is right across the street from this building... It's outrageous that the Department of Buildings would grant a variance," said Mr. Conner. "I'm surprised that with post 9/11 experience, we still have to fight in this mode over such an issue," said Tribeca resident Roland Gebhardt. "What does the Fire Department think of this?" Sixty Hudson is host to many communications companies such as FiberNet and Tel X. Tel X provides connection service to major businesses like AT&T, Cablevision and Verizon, according to its website. The oil is used for telecom back-up generators. According to attorneys for 60 Hudson, in the event of a blackout, the amount of diesel fuel permitted by city building codes would not be enough to uphold the telecommunication network infrastructure. Those codes have not been significantly updated since 1968, before telecom hotels were invented. Tim Lannan, head of Neighbors Against Noise, a group of local residents that pioneered an effort to force 60 Hudson to comply with city standards, called for the DOB to enforce recommendations based on the recently-released National Institute for Standards and Technology report on the Trade Center collapse. Building 7 is believed to have collapsed in part because of fuel stored in the building's base. —Sara Levin  read more »

Foes of the Brooklyn Nets arena have had a hard time linking it to the West Side stadium fight or turning it into a West Side-style showdown. After all, the arena is smaller, the project includes lots of sub-market-rate housing, and the dynamic of who in the neighborhood supports it is complicated. (And it doesn't piss off Cablevision, but that's another story.)

The wonky wing of the Nets opposition, though, makes an interesting case about how much traffic the Ratner project and a host of other developments are going to bring to downtown Brooklyn in a letter to Gifford Miller from consultant Brian Ketcham, obtained by the Politicker, and set to be released later today.

"What this means for Downtown Brooklyn is that, when fully built out, traffic in Downtown could be more than double what exists today. And, with the completion of the Nets Arena, this traffic could concentrate at Atlantic Center.

"Brooklyn got a taste of this problem on Christmas Eve, 2004, when traffic in and around Atlantic Center ground to a halt, gridlocked for up to half a mile radius of the new Target Store at Atlantic Center. Traffic was stopped for about 6 hours."  read more »

It's hard to argue against the consultant's point that traffic should be planned for, and he seems to have caught the city understating the likely new traffic.

But on the other hand, it's been pointed out to us that traffic is largely self-regulating -- if there's too much, people take the subway. And ultimately, there's a case to be made that traffic is preferable to the lack of traffic generated by the lack of a real Brooklyn business district.

On June 17, the Independent Film Channel is planning to open its renovation of the old Waverly Theat  read more »

Competition is supposed to make everything cheaper, but lately it's been making the West Side a whol  read more »

We're not actually in the Inner Circle and, frankly, we're just grateful they're letting us come Saturday night. So don't expect us to reveal those top-secret jokes here.

What we do know is that fancy people including Daniel Liebeskind, Christo and Jeanne-Claude will be in attendance, loving every minute no doubt.  read more »

Chuck will be a guest of the News, and Ognibene of the Sun.

Also, we hear that the Jets and Cablevision honchos may be seated close enough to peg each other with bread rolls when things get slow.

Today, Matthew Schuerman files a story on the Observer's Website taking a look at how the MTA board ended up making their decision. Though Kalikow & Co. kept claiming that it all came down to the bottom line (Cablevision offered more money upfront - $400 million to the Jets' $210 million), in the end, the board took other things into considereration such as jobs created and the mayor's promise to spend $2 billion to extend the 7 train. The pullquote has to be Real Estate Board prez Steven Spinola's assessment of the Cablevision offer: "Bullshit. And you can quote me."  read more »

Sure, a majority of the MTA board favors the Jets proposal for the West Side, but chairman Peter Kalikow just may have his own reasons to prefer Cablevision. He's pals with Rand Araskog, who was recently named to the board of Cablevision and also sits on the board of several other companies, including ITT and Rayonier, a forestry products company, and was formerly on the board of Hartford Financial and Starwood Hotels. According to Kalikow's 2004 financial disclosure forms, he owns stock in six companies - three of them are Starwood, Rayonier and Hartford Financial and he earns interest income from ITT.  read more »

Sorry about the slow posting and the glitches. We've been having some technical problems. Which is part of why Marcus had to email over his update on what's in today's paper:

-Will he or won't he? We're curious About George, and Terry Golway takes the pulse of Governor Pataki  read more »

-As decision day approaches on the West Side Yards, Matthew Schuerman examines how the competition between Cablevision and the Jets has driven up costs on both sides.

The editorials in today's paper: NYU Steamrolls the Ivies, City's Pollution Law: Close the Loopholes, The Secret to Marriage: Reality or Romance?

We're glad to see that Anthony's congressional staff can write, and all the better if they're not worrying about being on message.

His former deputy chief of staff, Ben Holzer, penned this opinion piece in Sunday's City Section about his experience at a Knicks home game in early March. Bottom line: "One of the strangest, most disturbing, least satisfying sporting experiences possible."

Not sure how Anthony's allies over at Cablevision, who -- oh yes -- own the Knicks, felt about it.

And now we see that Weiner's legislative director, Marc Dunkelman, has an op-ed in the Pittsburg Post-Gazette lambasting the Democratic Party.  read more »

"We need to begin to follow the rhythms of sermons given in Midwestern churches. We need to dig into what keeps Red America up at night, Dunkleman writes. "We need to make a clear break from the sense of entitlement and prissy idealism that falls flat in the heartland. Let's get tough on juvenile crime, and create a new national program to make sure that delinquent kids are forced to give back to the communities they burden.

"And let's embrace faith, promoting our own version of charitable choice that separates us from those on the far left who see 'Under God' in the Pledge of Allegiance as an imminent threat to American civil liberties."

"It's a dog-and-pony show without the dog or the pony," one reporter muttered as Charlie Schueler, a  read more »

Jess Duran, the communications director for the politically wired Hispanic Federation, appears to have departed on very short notice.

We were unable to reach Duran today, and the Hispanic Federation wasn't returning calls. But we hear that the departure may have had something to do with the relationship between the non-profit and Cablevision, the company that owns Madison Square Garden. Cablevision recently hired the Federation's executive director, Lorraine Cortes-Vasquez, as vice president for government relations, with the portfolio of helping with its campaign against the West Side Stadium.  read more »

We'd love some more details on Duran's departure, and were hoping that one of our correspondents up in Albany this weekend for the Black and Puerto Rican Legislative Caucus meeting could help us figure it out.

What's the point of having a front group if you can't stay behind the curtain?That's the question th  read more »

The good folks at Cablevision have an interesting question: Why should taxpayers shell out up to $60  read more »

On the morning of Sept.  read more »

The Dolan family, the dynasty that owns Cablevision and Madison Square Garden, has hired a small arm  read more »

Jason Giambi hasn't been lacking in friends since he came to New York in April to don the pinstripes  read more »

This past Sunday, Dec. 30, was yet another gruesome night atMadison Square Garden.  read more »

Remember how George Steinbrenner used to have back-door negotiations with Billy Martin that seemed m  read more »

The auditorium was only half-filled when the trim and tidylittle man stepped up to the podium at Cab  read more »

A couple of months ago, Cary Fields was driving along the Sheridan Expressway in the Bronx when he s  read more »

Charles Dolan, the reclusive chairman of Cablevision Systems Inc., has a crazy, scary, beautiful con  read more »