OK, so neither belies the notion that loans are available only for those who don't need them. But that shouldn't detract from the success both Cablevision Systems Corp. and Washington Post Co. had last month in the bond market.

Cablevision went first, securing $750 million on Jan. 8 through an offering of five-year notes. Their high yield of 11.375% generated sufficient institutional interest for the Bethpage, N.Y., company to bump up the offering from an originally announced $500 million.

Proceeds will help pay the $1.7 billion in bank and bond maturities confronting Cablevision this year.

Those obligations, coupled with a debt-equity ratio that's pushing 2.5, had equity investors fearing what Gabelli & Co. analyst Christopher Marangi calls "a perceived liquidity squeeze."

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Not that Marangi buys into this perception himself. Cablevision's funding sources, he writes in a post-offering update, include available revolver capacity of $1.3 billion, conservative free cash flow projections of $900 million over the next five quarters and a cash hoard of $343 million. That means the company would have been home free even before exploiting more than $2.3 billion in additional debt capacity at its Madison Square Garden properties and Rainbow Media Holdings LLC division.

Although not necessarily needed, the note offering was appreciated. Cablevision shares shot up 16% the day of the private placement, raising the company's market capitalization by $784 million. The market cap boost was, tellingly, more than the amount of added debt.

"Investors are now unburdened to focus on [Cablevision's] superior operating results," Marangi says. And should an appetite for risk ever return to the market, he continues, Cablevision remaining highly leveraged even after the note offering could take its stock "from albatross to rocket engine."

Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., Credit Suisse Group, Deutsche Bank AG and J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. were joint bookrunning managers for the sale.

Washington Post, with $416 million in cash on its books, needed its debt offering even less than Cablevision did. Yet on Jan. 27, it priced $400 million in 10-year notes to deliver an effective yield of 7.305%. Proceeds will be used repay $400 million in 5.5% notes that mature on Feb. 15.

The interest-rate disparity, favoring the Donald Graham-led publisher by more than 400 basis points, reflects the respective balance sheets of the two companies. Washington Post's debt of $500 million is only 4% of the $12 billion Cablevision carries.

But the difference also reflects management style -- particularly that of Cablevision's reigning Dolan family. Standard & Poor's reports that it expects the Dolans to "continue to pursue an aggressive financial policy, a factor that overshadows the company's investment-grade business risk profile." Hence its assigning the cable company a BB corporate credit rating and a negative outlook.

Washington Post receives an A+ corporate credit rating, in contrast, but like Cablevision is saddled with a negative outlook. "The rating is supported by the company's modest financial risk profile, ample levels of excess liquidity, leading and diverse business positions, and healthy cash flow generation," S&P says.

As for the negative outlook, the ratings agency cites the company's print products. Washington Post's flagship newspaper operation and Newsweek magazine posted revenue declines in the most recent quarter of 7% and 4%, respectively.

Yet thanks to its Kaplan Inc. education division, which now accounts for more than half of company sales, Washington Post ended up with an overall revenue gain of 10%. The question, unfortunately, is not how long Kaplan can keep the company up but how long before its legacy print products drag it down.

The note offering, which closed on Jan. 30, was sold through underwriters led by Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. The group also included SunTrust Robinson Humphrey Inc., Wachovia Capital Markets LLC, BNY Mellon Capital Markets LLC, PNC Capital Markets LLC and Wells Fargo Securities LLC.

Debt analysts say both issues benefited from timing. "A lot of coupon payments are made in mid-January," one says, "and they're often made to people charged with putting the money to work again." Throw in the enticing yields offered by such high-quality borrowers as Cablevision and Washington Post and, the analyst contends, the market's receptivity becomes less surprising.