Cablevision's "aggressive steps" to "dominate" the New
York sports cable market by increasing its stake in MSG, the
Knicks and the Rangers, were examined by CNN's Lou Dobbs on
"Moneyline." Cablevision Chair Charles Dolan: "It's the
right move for us long-term. We have the concept about our
company that we are not really a cable company, we are a
programming company. What really matters to our customer is
not how the programming arrives, whether it's cable or
satellite or whatever, it is what the programming is when it
shows up on their screen and how much they care about it.
In any local area ... what matters is local news, local
sports, local weather, shopping, etc." More Dolan, on the
future of cable: "More and more we are thinking about
content, it can't be that cable is simply the provider of a
commodity service. We all provide CNN, but so does the
satellite provide CNN. ... It won't be enough just to be
the source of popular syndicated programming, you will need
to bring something to the table yourself. You will need to
add your own content, and that almost has to be related to
the area that you serve." Dolan, on looking for an equity
partner: "When you have as much leverage as we do, there's
always a possibility that you will want to reduce that by
selling equity of some sort. And there are a range of
possibilities for us ... but we don't need to do it, and we
have no immediate plan to do it" ("Moneyline," CNN, 3/12).
