Murdoch withdraws bid for Newsday: report

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NEW YORK (AFP) - Media titan Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorp has withdrawn its bid to buy the New York area newspaper Newsday, leaving Cablevision the likely victor, the Wall Street Journal said on Saturday.

Cablevision, which operates cable television, phone and broadband services, offered 650 million dollars for the Long Island-based daily, topping equal bids of 580 million dollars by NewsCorp and New York Daily News owner Mortimer Zuckerman.

The Australian-born Murdoch's company already publishes the New York Post and the Wall Street Journal and owns two New York television stations.

Cablevision's offer to buy Newsday, which like the Los Angeles Times is owned by billionaire media mogul Sam Zell's Tribune Company, was expected to face fewer regulatory hurdles than either Murdoch or Zuckerman's offer.

Cablevision, which last week struck a deal to acquire the Sundance Channel for 500 million dollars, also owns a local news station News 12 and could aim to overlap print and television media clients, the report said.

However, the company could bid get a thumbs-down from investors after it announced a first quarter net loss of 31.6 million dollars last week, the report said.