Yankees Owner George Steinbrenner and Cablevision Chair
Charles Dolan took a "tentative first step toward resolving"
a sale dispute when they spoke by phone on Wednesday,
according to Peter Grant of the N.Y. DAILY NEWS. The two
discussed how much "control" Steinbrenner would have as both
the team's General Partner and Minority Owner. Sources feel
the two will "eventually make a deal" valued at "around"
$525M (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 11/26). But Elsen & Topousis of the
N.Y. POST wrote that "two or three possible buyers" of the
team exist if Cablevision's effort fails (N.Y. POST, 11/26).
GOODBYE TO YOU? In N.Y., Larry Brooks predicted one
headline "guaranteed to appear within a month" of a Yankees
sale which would have Steinbrenner overseeing the Knicks and
Rangers is: "Dave Checketts Resigns" (N.Y. POST, 11/29).
IS IPO THE KEY? BUSINESS WEEK's Richard Siklos writes
that should Cablevision go through with the Yankees deal,
the "next step" would be for them to "spin off" Rainbow
Media Holdings, the subsidiary with NBC that owns MSG, the
sports teams, Radio City Music Hall and other channels, in
an IPO. S.G. Cowen Securities Corp. analyst Gary Farber:
"If they do the Yankee deal, they should do an IPO. If
anything's been proven out in the cable and broadcast
sector, it's the high price of programming." Farber values
Rainbow at $3.6B without the Yankees (BUSINESS WEEK, 12/7).
