And There You Have It: Cablevision Buys 'Newsday'

The deal that's got everybody scratching their heads is done: Cablevision is buying Newsday for $650 million.

Tribune Co. will hang onto 3 percent of the paper as part of an agreement structured to minimize the company's tax hit. It will also continue to own Newsday's real estate, with Cablevision paying rent.

Cablevision attempts to silence some of the doubters by enumerating what it sees as the advantages of owning Newsday in a joint press release announcing the sale:

-Marketing Newsday more effectively with the ability to reach directly hundreds of thousands of Long Island households currently served by Cablevision -- the majority of whom do not currently subscribe to Newsday

-Providing enhanced news gathering resources and expertise to better serve the New York metro area

-Offering Cablevision's 2.3 million Optimum Online high-speed Internet subscribers new interactive and homepage opportunities

-Promoting Cablevision's live sports and entertainment assets through Newsday's publications, particularly amNewYork, with its New York City circulation of more than 300,000

-Offering advertisers a selection among various media outlets that enables each advertiser to most efficiently and effectively target its audience

-Using Newsday's expertise in developing innovative solutions for advertisers with its newspapers, magazines and Web sites to ensure the best approach to promoting ad insertions on Cablevision's 70 most popular cable channels

-Increasing classified advertising reach through Newsday, Cablevision's Optimum Homes and Optimum Autos interactive television classified services, and Newsday's Star (181 shopper editions with a weekly circulation of 2.6 million)