Dolans take Cablevision

The third time was the charm for the Dolan family in its efforts to take Cablevision private in a deal worth about $10.6 billion.

Cablevision has about 3 million cable TV customers, mainly in the New York area, and also owns Madison Square Garden, the Knicks and Rangers, and Radio City Music Hall.

The Dolans, led by Charles Dolan, the chairman, and his son James, the CEO, control Cablevision through a special class of supervoting shares.

The first two buyout attempts by the Dolans were rejected as inadequate by a two-person committee of independent directors on its board.

They had to sign off on any going-private transaction to ensure that public shareholders got a fair deal.

That committee, and the full board of directors, approved the Dolans' latest offer of $36.26 per share, saying it was in the best interests of public shareholders.

Last fall the Dolans offered to take the company private at $27 a share in cash, and in January raised the offer to $30, but that offer too was deemed inadequate by the board committee.

Those directors had also rejected a more complex bid the Dolans made in 2005 to pay $21 in cash plus stock from a newly created public company containing Madison Square Garden and a group of cable channels.

As one of the conditions of the deal, the transaction must be approved by a majority of the holders of Cablevision's publicly traded stock that is not held by the Dolan family.

Cablevision's shares climbed $3.23, or nearly 10%, to $35.90 yesterday, a 52-week high and nearly double the 52-week low.