Cablevision Systems Corporation was an American cable television company with systems serving areas surrounding New York City. It was the fifth-largest cable provider[2] and ninth-largest television provider in the United States.[3] Throughout its existence and in its final years, Cablevision exclusively served customers residing in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and a small part of Pennsylvania. However, at one time it provided service in as many as 19 states. Cablevision also offered high-speed Internet connections (Optimum Online), digital cable (Optimum TV/IO Digital Cable), and VoIP (Optimum Voice) phone service (the eighth-largest telephone provider in the U.S.)[4] through its Optimum brand name. Cablevision also offered a WiFi-only mobile phone service dubbed Freewheel.
On June 21, 2016, Cablevision was acquired by European telecom conglomerate Altice. The former Cablevision services operate under Optimum Communications which continues to operate brands Optimum Online, Optimum Voice, and Optimum TV.
History
In the mid-1960s, Charles Dolan built a cable system called Sterling Manhattan Cable in the borough of Manhattan and launched Home Box Office (HBO).[5] He ended up selling both the cable system and HBO to Time Life Inc. He used the money to start a new cable system in suburban Long Island called CableVision. Cablevision, having changed its name from CableVision, quickly expanded by building on Long Island and acquiring smaller cable systems from other providers.[6] Cablevision also built systems throughout the New York metro area: some of the other boroughs of New York City, New Jersey, Westchester County, and Connecticut.
In the 1980s, Cablevision also expanded into the Chicago, Boston, and Cleveland areas. By the mid-1990s Cablevision would offer service to 2.9 million subscribers in 19 states. Through a series of transactions in the late 1990s, Cablevision consolidated its cable systems into three core areas: New York, Cleveland, and Boston. Despite reducing the number of areas served, they brought the number of subscribers to 3.5 million through these transactions. One major transaction made at this time was with Tele-Communications Inc. (TCI). Cablevision gained 10 New York area cable systems from TCI and in exchange TCI gained 33% ownership in the company.
The Madison Square Garden Company
In 1994, Paramount Communications (formerly Gulf+Western), the owner of Madison Square Garden, was acquired by Viacom, who in turn sold the MSG properties to Cablevision and ITT Corporation, which had 50% ownership each. ITT would sell its share to Cablevision three years later.
On February 9, 2010, Cablevision spun off its subsidiary Madison Square Garden, L.P. into a new company named The Madison Square Garden Company (MSG). Although a separate company, it was run by the Cablevision CEO, James Dolan. He remained an important figure in both companies until Cablevision's sale in 2016, and continues to head MSG. The company has three divisions consisting of professional sports teams, two regional sports networks, and several entertainment venues.[20]
MSG controls its namesake Madison Square Garden arena in New York City, and the professional sports teams that play there: the New York Knicks and New York Rangers. The same company also owns the Hartford Wolf Pack, a Hartford, Connecticut based minor-league professional hockey team affiliated with the Rangers.[21]
MSG also holds the TV rights for the Knicks, Rangers,
Cable Networks
AMC Networks
On July 1, 2011, Cablevision spun off its subsidiary, formerly known as Rainbow Media LLC, into a new company named AMC Networks. AMC Networks owns several national cable networks including AMC, IFC, Sundance Channel, and WE tv. Wedding Central, a cable channel that was launched as a spin-off of WE tv in 2009, was also run by Rainbow Media. However, upon AMC Networks achieving its independence of Cablevision, the channel was shut down due to low ratings.[27] Rainbow Media also controlled Fuse TV until 2010, when ownership was transferred to Cablevision's Madison Square Garden division, now operating independently as The Madison Square Garden Company (see above). The Rainbow Media subsidiary of Cablevision also operated a satellite television company called Voom, which was shut down on April 30, 2005, but lived on as a series of high-definition television channels named Voom HD Networks. They were available on Cablevision and iO digital cable until January 21, 2009. However, the 15 U.S. channels were eventually also shut down due to lack of distribution prior to the spinning off of Rainbow Media from Cablevision as the independent AMC Networks.[28]
Other properties
Cablevision acquired the New York-area electronics chain The Wiz in 1998. The chain was closed in 2003. Since then the name was sold to P. C. Richard & Son and currently remains as a dormant subsidiary of the company only showing Wiz Deals on some P.C. Richard items.
From 1998 until April 29, 2013, Cablevision owned New York-area cinema chain Clearview Cinemas. It was sold to Bow Tie Cinemas of Connecticut.
On July 29, 2008, Cablevision acquired Newsday and amNewYork in a deal worth $650m.[30][31] The Dolan family maintained majority ownership of Newsday, with Altice USA having a 25% share until the properties were sold in 2023.[32]
Carriage disputes
MSG Network
From September 1988 through July 1989, Cablevision did not carry MSG Network (at the time owned by Gulf+Western, which later became Paramount Communications) over the question of whether MSG should be offered as a basic service or a premium service. This move also occurred as New York Yankees games on cable moved to MSG from Cablevision-owned SportsChannel.[33][34] The Cablevision position was that those who wished to pay for sports programming should shoulder the burden, not every consumer. This dispute ended with Cablevision offering MSG as a premium subscription service.
YES Network
Cablevision did not carry most of the games of the New York Yankees in 2002, because they would not accept the price asked during the inaugural season of YES Network. Again, at the root of the argument was who was to pay for sports programming. Cablevision wanted to offer YES as a premium service, like MSG and Fox Sports NY, where YES ownership wanted the channel on the 'Family Cable' tier. After a long standoff, a deal was made the following year. As a result, YES, along with MSG and Fox Sports NY, moved to the 'Family Cable' Tier.
Corporate governance
At the time of the sale to Altice, the board of directors of Cablevision were: Charles Dolan, James Dolan, Patrick Dolan, Kristin Dolan, Marianne Dolan Weber, Rand Araskog, Frank Biondi, Charles Ferris, Richard Hochman, Victor Oristano, Thomas Reifenheiser, John R. Ryan, Brian Sweeney, Vincent Tese, Leonard Tow.
In 2006, the Dolan family announced a plan to purchase the company and privatize it, after a failed attempt in 2005, which would have spun off Rainbow Media as a publicly traded company.
On May 2, 2007, after repeated attempts, the Dolan family announced that a deal worth $10.6 billion had been reached for Cablevision to be taken private, but agreement was not reached with other shareholders.[56] Cablevision stock trades under the ticker symbol CVC on the New York Stock Exchange.
Financial records
On November 11, 2003, the company admitted that it had misrepresented some of its finances. It would restate its previously reported financial statements for the first and second quarters of 2003, and would revise the quarterly financial results released that day, to reflect the impact of expenses totaling approximately $15 million that were improperly recorded in 2002 and earlier periods.[57] On March 2, 2004, the company also said it would restate annual results for 2000 to 2002, in addition to its previously announced restatement of quarterly results in 2002 and 2003.[58]
See also
- List of United States telephone companies
References
- Cablevision Systems Corporation Form 10-K, Securities and Exchange Commission, February 26, 2014^
- Multiple-system operator^
- Top 25 Multichannel Video Programming Distributors NCTA.com, retrieved 2010-03-17^