"Linsanity" Tops Cable Talks

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- "Linsanity" will settle the

Cablevision

(CVC)

/

Time Warner

(TWX)

contretemps, said one media outlet, noting that negotiation between the two cable behemoths had opened back up.

Actually, the presence of the instant sensation from Harvard in the New York Knicks' backcourt will actually make a settlement less likely, said another media outlet, which went on to say that new negotiations are not underway.

Here's what we know: Jeremy Lin has helped the New York Knicks win basketball games. Beyond that, it's part an educated guessing game and part fact. The New York Post appears right about the factual side: negotiations seemed to have opened up at some level very recently. But its counterpart, Marketwatch is right to point to a variable the Post ignores: Cablevision is well known as a ruthless and obstinate negotiator. With fate turning in its favor in the form of the dynamic point guard, the company will probably harden its negotiating line. This might make negotiations stickier. Remember, too, what neither of these news accounts factored in: Cablevision has further leverage in the form of the surging Rangers.

Cablevision, an organization prone to arrogance, currently has good reason to be arrogant. That can't pave the way to a neat and tidy settlement.

There you have it: there are facts and one media outlet was right--negotiations appear to be underway. However, there are also appropriate interpretive points to make, and the other media outlet was probably right in getting into the "linsanely" uncompromising mind of Cablevision.