Hedge fund manager Ralph Schlosstein, who runs a 5K in under 26 minutes, was paying for two of Tom Brokaw's four New York Knicks tickets, but was refused when trying to renew the seats. The Dolan family's Cablevision, which owns Madison Square Garden, said there was a waiting list for those seats, and that it's against policy to transfer your seats. But there's one other theory: The former NBC anchor's criticism of the Garden. In April he told XM radio, ""I won't renew because I don't like the attitude that the ownership has brought to the community. They have failed their obligation to the city . . . The Garden has lost a lot of its luster." [P6] Which is absolutely true. You just don't say those things when you're apt to break their policy.

Cablevision's Dolan family, the new Newsday owners, would prefer Newsday not report on their business dealings. "They’re the only owners who could make you wish for Murdoch." [NYO]

There will be no New York Post-Newsday News Corp. tag team to take on the Times, with Rupert Murdoch having dropped out of the bidding for Tribune Co.'s Long Island paper. Instead, Cablevision will buy 97 percent, for $650 million, of the paper, adding the rag to its massive cable biz front on Long Island.

Along with Newsday, Cablevision also picks up "related assets," including freebie paper am New York, a detail the Times surprisingly left out of its coverage. (The WSJ did not.)

So while the deal doesn't actually include Newsday's real estate, as original reports said, the two papers Cablevision picks up guarantees you're about to be inundated with ticket sales ads for Madison Square Garden, which it conveniently also owns. As well as Radio City Music Hall, the New York Knicks, and the New York Rangers..

SNOOZEDAY Rupert Murdoch does not plan to up his $580 million offer for Tribune Co.'s Newsday, even though Cablevision bested his pitch with a $650 million bid. This is either Murdoch's way of exiting the bidding, or his way of saying he's still a better owner even if he's not willing to cough up $70 million more. Oh, but also: Cablevision's offer includes the paper's real estate, so the offers are pretty much even.

Just to keep things interesting, Cablevision is making good on rumors for a Newsday bid. James Dolan will not be left out of big important things! [BH]

• Just when Cablevision chief James Doland tries humping Michael Bloomberg's leg, the cable company posts a near $63 million quarter loss. [Mediaweek & Page Six]

• Fox News' excuse for VP Joe Chillemi's wailing on about pregnant women's tits? It might be bad language, but it's not sexual harassment. [B&C]

• Five years ago, Bill Clinton made the cover of Esquire for his Oval Office tactics. This month, he's on the cover again — but for its Best & Brightest issue. [MIN]

• Two months after locking Maureen Dowd and Paul Krugman behind a fee wall, the New York Times reports about 135,000 users have subscribed to its TimesSelect service. Stupid liberals and their overflowing bank accounts. [E&P]

• Rita Cosby is turning to true patriots to boost her ratings: the hookers at the Moonlite Bunny Ranch in Nevada, who will give returning GIs what the really want for the holidays. [R&M]

• Five days after the auction to have lunch with Rupert Murdoch bega, there are exactly two bids for the media meal. And the second bid? Just $100 more than the first. [Guardian]

• It's now impossible to separate Maureen Dowd the columnist from Maureen Dowd's book, just like it's impossible to separate Maureen Dowd the redhead to Maureen Dowd the passive-aggressive camera subject. [NYO]