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Suffolk Life’s death and the connection to Cablevision and Newsday
There’s likely been plenty of RIP Suffolk Life talk around water coolers and computers on Long Island today. The quirky institution, so tightly connected with founder Dave Willmott Sr., will close down next week after 46 years.
The demise of Suffolk Life is widely seen as part of a wider media story on Long Island and it’s being summarized in one word: consolidation. Or maybe monopoly. In the the LI Biz Blog of Long Island Business News today, Henry E. Powderly II talks to media appraiser Kevin Kamen. Kamen says, “The publishing community on Long Island has just felt the first of what will unfortunately become many more blows to follow as Suffolk Life Newspapers will soon be closing its doors. This is a sad commentary on the entire publishing community on Long Island and is indicative of what could soon follow with the recent Newsday sale to Cablevision.”
Later on, Kamen adds, “Once the Newsday sale on Long Island (owned by Tribune Co of Chicago) is finalized with Cablevision you should see a big push to market the entire Nassau-Suffolk region by Cablevision in a way that few have seen advertising cross-sold before in the NY metro region.”
But it’s not all about Newsday and Cablevision, says Kamen: “It is much deeper. It is about how the publishing community has to streamline and become better marketing agents for its properties…Publishers need to unite in better promoting their print products and must use more discretion in spending money. Clearly, publishers must become better business operators yet should never forget that their business is covering the news and that they have to do that exceptionally well by keeping their focus on local content that is relevant to each consumer.”
–Noel Rubinton, Newsday
Posted by Noel Rubinton on June 19, 2008 5:06 PM