Murdoch confident on Newsday bid

Exec unworried about Cablevision's offer

By DADE HAYES

NEW YORK -- Rupert Murdoch all but claimed victory in the three-way bidding for Newsday during a conference call with analysts and reporters to discuss News Corp.'s third-quarter results.

After some fairly subdued comments indicating hopefulness that his $580 million bid would be accepted, Murdoch dispensed with any hedging during the 20 minutes typically reserved for Q&A with reporters at the end of the call.

"I don't think Cablevision will prevail," he said in response to a Newsday reporter's question about why Murdoch hadn't raised News Corp.'s bid after Cablevision offered $650 million. (New York Daily News publisher Mort Zuckerman has also offered $580 million.)

"Just wait a few days," Murdoch added. "We're not in the business of getting into an auction."

Later, another Newsday reporter flattered the News Corp. chief by noting that Murdoch is taking questions on the deal while Newsday owner and Tribune topper Sam Zell has refused to do so. When she asked about whether News Corp. is already making strategic plans for the takeover, Murdoch said Zell is "famously a man of his word," adding, "We think everything is in hand."

For Zell, taking a lower bid in order to be in Murdoch's good graces makes plenty of sense given, for one thing, Tribune's important TV station business and Zell's gripes about the CW's shortcomings. Having already cut a lucrative deal to switch one of Tribune's stations from the CW to Fox, he could be laying the groundwork for more of the same.

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