The offer would come one month after New York
media and real estate magnate Mortimer Zuckerman said he was
considering selling the newspaper and had hired Lazard Ltd to
assist with the process. It underscores the declining readership
and plunging advertising revenue that have plagued the tabloid
for years.
Cablevision's $1 bid takes into account the New York Daily News'
reported $30 million annual loss and $150 million investment in
a printing press, and declining circulation that relies heavily
on newsstand sales rather than on subscriptions, the source
said.
The source asked not to be identified because the offer has not
been formally presented yet. Cablevision declined to comment
while a representative for the New York Daily News could not
immediately be reached for a comment.
To be sure, newspapers are not the only part of the media
industry which is struggling. Cable distributors such as
Cablevision and its larger rivals have also been under pressure
to stop consumers from dumping their cable subscriptions, or
"cutting the cord", as subscribers shift to internet services
such as Netflix and Hulu.
Cablevision also owns the suburban newspaper Newsday. The
company, which is controlled by New York's Dolan family, said
last month its number of video customers fell 4.7 percent to
2.68 million in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31.
Zuckerman is co-founder, executive chairman and former chief
executive officer of Boston Properties Inc, a real estate
investment trust. New York Daily News' cross town rival, the New
York Post, is owned by Rupert Murdoch's media conglomerate News
Corp.
(Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
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