Dolan Family Wants Cablevision All To Itself (Again)

from the take-my-cable-company-and-go-home dept

Mon, Oct 9th 2006 2:04pm — Joseph Weisenthal

After failing in a previous effort, the Dolan family is looking to take Cablevision private. Cablevision, in recent years, has bucked cable industry trends as it sold a cut-rate triple play service, voiced support for a la carte cable, and drew the ire of the entertainment industry by planning a hosted DVR service. The family's letter to shareholders hits on this theme, as they believe that a private Cablevision can be managed more entrepreneurally, and with a longer-term approach than if it were public. They cited the fact that Cablevision's stock dropped upon offering a sub-$100 triple play service, even though the move has done well for the company. This also comes at a time when a lot of money is going to bringing companies private, a proposition that's become more attractive in the age of Sarbanes-Oxley, with its high cost of compliance.

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10 Comments

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ya ya ya, 9 Oct 2006 @ 2:15pm

SWGAS?
ghey
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bendodge, 9 Oct 2006 @ 2:21pm

Blah
This article doesn't make sense. Who is the Dolan family?
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- Chris, 9 Oct 2006 @ 2:35pm
  
  Re: Blah
  The Dolan family is the family that owns Cablevision.
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Anonymous Coward, 9 Oct 2006 @ 2:31pm

Who cares?
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Mr. Know it all, 9 Oct 2006 @ 2:58pm

No one knows this
No one knows what this article is talking about. Who are these people. Is cable vision in my town?...NO. Have I ever heard of them...NO. This is terrible. Absolutely horrible. I can't think of anything worse than this.
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- Anonymous Coward, 9 Oct 2006 @ 3:31pm
  
  Re: No one knows this
  I can think of something worse... Think hard... a hot fresh load of dung in your pants
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Dante, 9 Oct 2006 @ 3:08pm

The Dolan family
The Dolan family is a clan of demons from the ninth circle of Hell. They subsist on the brains of of traitors and were, until recently, frozen from the shoulders down in the Lake of Eternal Sorrows. Their goal is planetary domination through the destruction of morality, sexual perversity, and hatred of liberty.

Needles to say, they are Democrats.
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chris (profile), 9 Oct 2006 @ 4:18pm

some definitions might help
triple play service: offering television, telephone, and internet access for one price.

going private: buying out the shareholders of a publicly traded company so that the company lands in the hands of a few private investors and is no longer controlled by common stock holders.

sarbanes-oxley: a regulatory complaince act passed in 2002. it allows for a government oversight board to audit companies to prevent fraud following the enron, worldcom and other corporate scandals.

the dolan family wants to buy out it's stockholders so they have more control over cable vision. they believe that they can do more for the growth of the company if the have fewer people to answer to.
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Matt, 9 Oct 2006 @ 7:13pm

Dolans
Actually, the Dolans already having voting control over cablevision due to their "special" stock, which gives them extra voting rights. It's probably more to do with Sarbox I would think.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Oct 2006 @ 6:56am

Actually, Cablevisions price for voice is around $45, so its not all that great a deal by itself. The $100 for the triple play is the good deal.

Bundles win the consumer, reduce churn and increase the percentage of wallet share from the consumer.

Hopefully, the Dolans will sell the Knicks and the Rangers too. As sports owners, they blow.
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