Rupert Murdoch got beat on this one: Cablevision of NY buys Long Island's Newsday newspaper.

You might be asking what the big deal is about a New York cable company buying out a lesser-known suburban New York newspaper. Let's take a look at the players:

Rupert Murdoch - The Fox / Newscorp media mogul currently owns the uber-popular New York tabloid, the New York Post, and also recently acquired the Wall Street Journal after a lot of discussion. He was very interested in adding one other big jewel to his NY media crown with Newsday.

Tribune - The previous owners of Newsday are currently sitting at the #2 spot behind Gannett as the largest newspaper publishers in the country. Not for long. After selling Newsday for $650 million to Cablevision, the company will drop to the #3 spot behind McClatchy, but will still have a 3% stake in the Cablevision's new Newsday venture.

Cablevision - Obviously the big winners in the deal. But it's still not completely clear what they plan on doing with this otherwise dying newspaper. Cablevision already owns the The New York Rangers, the Knicks, and Madison Square Garden, so maybe they're looking to leverage their monopoly on sports coverage?

It looks like things are starting early today. In what seems like one of the best cross promotional schemes of late, the Newsday website is filling its Business Section with stories about the Cablevision network expansion and potential backlash from loyal Newsday reader.

No matter what Cablevision now does with its new find, things are not looking good for the newspaper business in general. Newsday, in particular, is big on using their classified ads section to gain revenue, but it's a dying section of the paper. With free postings on Craigslist that are viewed with much more frequency, why would anyone want to advertise their moldy couch in a paper anymore?

Here's another real promising tidbit for investors. A big part of the purchase is being funded by Bank of America. Do ya hear that? A big bank grew a pair! After the banks have been sitting on the sidelines/licking their wounds/biding their time (and whichever other overused Street clichés you'd care to use) for the past quarter+(with some exceptions like Countrywide), things might be looking positive again for them.

If they're able to step out into deals again, then perhaps the financial industry as a whole isn't the black hole it's being chastised as?

AP: Cablevision buys Newsday from Tribune, May 12, 2008

TheStreet: Cablevision Buys Long Island's Newsday, May 12, 2008

The winning formula of adding young and attractive women to his staff, has served Rupert Murdoch well in the past. He keeps that gravy train rolling, even if that means painfully under-qualified major corporation board members.

Last month's issue of Portfolio magazine gave us a first glimpse at the 27-year-old opera singer who became the youngest board member for Murdoch' s Newscorp.

Newcorp, the world's largest media conglomerate, owns Fox News, Business, 20th Century, etc. and continues to expand its empire. After acquiring the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones & Co., two of the most well-known business news sources, Murdoch was required to put a member of the Bancroft Family (the former owners) on the new board of directors. Enter: Natalie Bancroft.

Natalie Bancroft, one of the youngest members of the fam, is currently training to be a professional opera singer in Milan. She has no prior business or journalism experience, but says she will 'work her little butt off' to figure out what the hell is going on.

She'll be in good hands though, because she is by far the most inexperienced compared to her fellow board members. They include a former prime minister of Spain, an assistant U.S. attorney general, CEOs of major banks, and Murdoch's very own 36-year-old son, Lachlan. Maybe he and Natalie could discuss a potential merger? Bow-chikka-wow-wow.

She's also currently taking a journalism class to get the gist of things in the business news world. Does sitting on the board of a well-respected international media syndicate get covered in the Journalism 101 textbooks? Oh yeah, you're right, probably after the midterm exam.

The Bancrofts are a pretty secretive family, and as such photos of them on the beach, in the shower, etc. are hard to come by. Anyone found any good shots of young Natalie or her mother Joyce Bancroft, who was supposedly a 'Dutch-Brazilian model', at leisure?

Let us know in the comments if you think Rupert Murdoch's new appointment was a slick move, or creepy in a perverted uncle type of way.

Wall Street Journal: Bancrofts Bicker, Miss a Deadline, Lose Board Choice, November 7, 2007

Portfolio: Lady Sings the News, March 2008