Although well-heeled media mogul and New York Mayor-elect Michael Bloomberg poured millions of political ad dollars into local broadcast stations' coffers, cable outlets in the No. 1 market apparently did not benefit that much from his largesse.
According to records released on Oct. 26, the victorious Republican candidate's camp said it spent $7 million on local TV and radio through Oct. 22 and $2.4 million on splashy direct-mail pieces, while Democrat Mark Green spent $1.7 million on local TV and radio spots and $38,000 on direct mail.
The New York Daily News recently reported that both sides combined to spend more than $7 million, according to records kept by the Big Apple's major TV broadcasters. Bloomberg's camp spent more than $3.5 million of that total, including buys on Fox affiliate WNYW's World Series and National Football League coverage.
Though Bloomberg spent $50 million of his own money, Green had to limit his outlays to $15 million to receive public matching funds under the city's campaign-finance rules.
New York Interconnect senior vice president and general manager Eglon Simons said his operation did not benefit appreciably from the "Bloomberg factor."
That's because the Bloomberg LLC tycoon — who kicked off his primary campaign last June — spent most of his cable ad dollars in Manhattan and the Bronx, Simons explained.
The New York Interconnect did garner "some good business from the New Jersey gubernatorial race," in which Democrat Jim McGreevey defeated the GOP's Bret Schundler, noted Simons. Simons declined to provide spending specifics.
Time Warner Cable, whose system and New York 1 News network reach nearly 1.5 million subscribers in the New York DMA, did not respond to repeated calls.
Bloomberg likely broke the $50 million in total campaign spending, making his "one of the priciest campaigns for any office outside of the presidency," according to a Daily News story two weeks ago. By way of contrast, the article noted, Hillary Clinton and Rick Lazio spent a combined $69 million on their New York Senate race last year.
