Cablevision cancels special $3bn dividend

Cablevision Systems Corp, a Long Island-based cable TV company, has announced it will cancel a special $3 billion dividend after finding it had violated the terms of its bank borrowing agreement.

The company also says it will cancel a recently announced $1 billion bond offering.

This ends a truly bizaar year for Cablevision that has seen family feuds and an aborted attempt to take the company private again. In fact the dividend payout was seen as a way of dealing with the privatisation fiasco.

Looks to me like investors might push for a new owner if the leading shareholders and founders, the Dolan family, allow them.