Cablevision declines comment on sale rumor

Cablevision Systems is declining comment on a New York Times report resurrecting speculation its cable systems are for sale.

Based on an interview with Cablevision’s chairman, Charles F. Dolan, and his son James, who is the company’s CEO, the report suggested the nation’s seventh largest cable operator could be for sale as Cablevision tries to set its financial house in order.

Cablevision, with 3 million New York area subscribers, also owns sports, entertainment and Internet-based concerns, and is in the midst of a reorganization that includes layoffs, selling its movie theater chain and closing more than half of its 43 Wiz consumer electronics stores.

If the cable systems were to be sold, the most likely buyer would be AOL Time Warner, which is spinning off its Time Warner Cable operation. Cablevision’s New York City-based operations would give Time Warner a lock on the Big Apple.

Any decision to sell the cable systems would hinge on the Dolans, who control 74% of the votes while owning only 24% of the company’s stock. The Dolans are part of a dwindling cable species--the owner-controller family-- along with the Roberts (Brian and Ralph) at Comcast and the troubled Rigas family, which has relinquished their control of Adelphia Communications.

--Jim Barthold, senior editor