NEW YORK -- Cablevision Systems Corp has made a $650 million bid for Tribune Co's Newsday newspaper in an offer that includes a joint venture with Tribune, a source briefed on the matter said Friday.

Cablevision's offer is $70 million higher than the bids submitted by News Corp (Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch and New York Daily News owner Mortimer Zuckerman — each of which were $580 million each, sources have said.

Long Island-based Cablevision was considering a joint bid with Jared Kushner, owner of the New York Observer newspaper, but decided to go solo just a few days ago, the source said.

The offer includes a joint venture that would allow Tribune to keep a small stake to avoid capital gains taxes, the source said.

A spokesman for Cablevision, which is controlled by the Dolan family, declined to comment.

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Real estate tycoon Sam Zell took Tribune Co private last year in an $8.2 billion buyout that restructured the publisher as an employee-owned company, saddling it with more than $10 billion in debt.

Reuters had previously reported that Murdoch's bid was also a joint venture that would leave a small percentage of the paper in the hands of Tribune in order to defer the tax hit that Tribune would take if it sold the paper.

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