Rupert Murdoch, Fox: Buy Madison Square Garden and N.Y. Yankees

News Corp's reported plan to buy a stake in Yankees Entertainment and Sports (YES) could be part of a grand plan to build an even bigger empire.
By Rocco Pendola ,

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- With so much uncertainty in the stock market, it's nice to have a relatively stable area where investors can take long-term cover.

Lately, it's been dividend stocks. Now, we're told that run is over. I don't buy it. It's rarely, if ever, a bad time to make regular purchases of dividend payers, particularly in growth stocks. In fact, most investors should probably use the strategy as a major portfolio foundation.

That said, speaking directly to sectors, there's probably not a space with better visibility and relative certainty than media.

There are incredible existing and potential synergies between big media and empire building, particularly in sports programming and franchises.

I have hammered it pretty hard:

Buy big media stocks because/if they

:

  • Control key 'appointment viewing'-type content, such as live sports programming;
  • Have a clear path to grow revenue by expanding that empire.

Search

my article history

. You'll find loads of support for buying names such as Canada's

Rogers Communications

(RCI) - Get Report

and

BCE

(BCE) - Get Report

to less-monopoly prone, but equally as attractive, American giants like

Time Warner

(TWX)

and

Disney

(DIS) - Get Report

.

One of my more recent pieces --

Something All Investors Must Do During Earnings Season

-- uses media company earnings conference calls to articulate why these stocks should continue to be such strong buys.

As the above-linked article indicates, through all of this excitement,

News Corp

(NWSA) - Get Report

, set to spin off its struggling publishing division next year, emerges as the cream of the crop.

Rupert Murdoch, love him or disagree vehemently with 80% of his Tweets, continues to build out a powerful cable and sports empire:

Fox

, which includes

Fox News

and the

Fox Sports Regional Networks

. A competitor in the works to take on Disney's

ESPN

. The list goes on and on. News Corp is not only nationwide; it's global, claiming turf obviously in the U.K., and in places such as India.

We received word last night, via

The New York Times

, that News Corp will purchase a 40% stake in

YES

, that's Yankees Entertainment and Sports, co-owned by the Steinbrenner family,

Goldman Sachs

(GS) - Get Report

and others.

At the same time, News Corp is looking to snag rights to Los Angeles Dodgers baseball.

It's easy to connect the dots.

However, I expect Murdoch -- if nothing else, he's a true maverick -- to push the envelope harder. He might go so far as to test regulatory waters.

He's no dummy. He sees what Rogers and Bell do in Canada -- the companies have a virtual monopoly on sports and entertainment throughout the nation -- and, while he knows that level of consolidation would never fly in a tight U.S. regulatory environment, News Corp can do more. It can build an empire to not only challenge, but knock off

ESPN

.

He did it in cable news with

Fox

, absolutely embarrassing

CNN

. Sports, it's ripe for the taking.

With that in mind, keep an eye on

Madison Square Garden

(MSG) - Get Report

. I covered the company's impressive regional holdings, which include the New York Knicks, the New York Rangers, the MSG family of cable networks and Madison Square Garden Arena here in

Knicks Win, Rangers Lose: Either Way MSG Remains a Buy

.

Since that article, the stock is up about 15% and MSG agreed to acquire the Forum, the venue where the Lakers and Kings used to play in Southern California.

George Steinbrenner is dead. You know what happens when the family takes over.

They let Rupert Murdoch in the door. He will take advantage of the opening just like

I'm-not-tall,-but-I'm-not-small

former New York Giants running back Joe Morris did when he saw gaping holes in defensive lines.

Step 1: Get in that door with a stake in YES.

Step 2: Go hard at MSG and spin off some of the assets -- maybe the Rangers -- that would create eventual regulatory headaches.

Step 3: Come back to the Steinbrenners and pitch the potential synergies inherent in having YES, MSG and the New York Yankees under the same roof with

Fox's

national and regional sports powerhouses.

It's a no-brainer.

Follow @rocco_thestreet

Rocco Pendola is

TheStreet's

Director of Social Media. Pendola's daily contributions to

TheStreet

frequently appear on

CNBC

and at various top online properties, such as

Forbes

.

Loading ...