Cablevision Might Be Better Off Not Talking To Newspaper Experts

from the just-a-thought dept

Wed, May 28th 2008 2:16pm — Mike Masnick

Long Island-based cable company Cablevision is buying Long Island-based newspaper Newsday from the Tribune Company. While not all of Cablevision's shareholders are happy about this, it seems pretty likely the deal will go through. What's interesting, though is that Cablevision's Charles Dolan is admitting that the company knows very little about the newspaper business, but he's promising to "consult widely and seek advice from people who have backgrounds and are professionals in the field." To be honest, my first reaction on reading that is that doing so is the exact wrong thing the new owner of a newspaper should be doing. It seems like there are so many folks in the newspaper business these days who are still living in the past, trying to pretend they can bring back the glory days when there was no real competition. What newspapers need these days might be a completely different mindset, rather than one encumbered by the legacy thinking that has made it so difficult for many newspapers to adapt to the changing market.

Filed Under: experts, newspapers
Companies: cablevision, newsday

5 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased), 28 May 2008 @ 2:53pm

Who you gonna call?
Charles Dolan,
Contact Mike Masnick at the Techdirt Insight Community to help you get pointed in the right direction on your newspaper acquisition.
Sincerely,
CN'E(d)

----------------------------------
Mike,
Can I have some official company letterhead to mail this to Mr. Dolan? I doubt he reads the blog.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Lonny Paul (profile), 28 May 2008 @ 5:43pm

Buying a Newspaper?
Now is not the time to be buying a newspaper, it's more like time to SELL.

The Internet has killed the delivery boy and he's not coming back.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- mikerandells, 10 Nov 2008 @ 1:53am
  
  Re: Buying a Newspaper?
  The internet is only giving the total then why needed to buy a newspaper.Its waste of money.
  ===================================
  miker
  
  MLS
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Nicholas Iler, 28 May 2008 @ 11:37pm

"trying to pretend they can bring back the glory days when there was no real competition"
You said that right! This is a strange sector of business theorist. They are the reason the Internet belongs to the people now. I'm glad they have been so ignorant. If they took it more seriously the Internet with be full of copyright notices and subscription (paid) services. But today the Internet is mostly free and the small cat can finally eat a big fish.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
atroon, 29 May 2008 @ 7:13am

Do you really think...
Indeed, newspapers need a new mindset and new business model...but should a cable company, one of the most evil sorts of corporations and in love with their own legacy business model, really be the one to drag a newspaper into the 21st century?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]