Cablevision

LAS VEGAS -- Fight fans vented their anger after having to spend close to $50 for pay-per-view telecasts to witness Mike Tyson dispatch Peter McNeeley, Frank Bruno and Bruce Seldon in less than three rounds, so they have been offered a money-back guarantee for tonight's heavyweight match against Evander Holyfield.Cablevision, operating out of New York, will charge only $9.95 per round, up to a maximum of $49.75 for five rounds or more.The cable industry views this as a strong marketing tool to recruit a greater base of fight fans, but the idea of rebates does not sit well with the Nevada State Athletic Commission and rival television executives.

Cablevision Systems Corp., the cable-television provider that owns Madison Square Garden, agreed to be taken private by the founding Dolan family for $10.6 billion in cash, capping their two-year effort to buy the company. The Dolans will pay $36.26 a share, the Bethpage, N.Y.- based company said yesterday in a statement. The offer is 11 percent more than yesterday's close and 21 percent above the family's $30 bid that was rejected in January.

Cablevision Systems Corp., the cable-television provider that owns Madison Square Garden, agreed to be taken private by the founding Dolan family for $10.6 billion in cash, capping their two-year effort to buy the company. The Dolans will pay $36.26 a share, the Bethpage, N.Y.- based company said yesterday in a statement. The offer is 11 percent more than yesterday's close and 21 percent above the family's $30 bid that was rejected in January.

A weekly briefing on the economic calendar Monday Earnings: Delphi Corp. Dynegy Inc., Priceline.com Inc., Visteon Corp. Tuesday Second-quarter productivity June wholesale inventories Federal Reserve interest rate meeting Earnings: Cablevision Systems Corp., Cisco Systems Inc., Walt Disney Co. Wednesday Earnings: Federated Department Stores Inc., Mittal Steel Co., Morningstar Inc. Thursday July retail sales June business inventories Earnings: Brinker International Inc., Deli Inc., Kohl's Corp.

NEW YORK -- Charles Dolan is in and John Pickett is almost out as head of the New York Islanders if the deal consummated over the weekend comes to fruition. Dolan, chairman of Cablevision, has agreed to buy 99 percent of Pickett's stock in the Islanders with the provision that the management group that bought into the Islanders last year runs the team, at least for now.Dolan said yesterday that he will assume responsibility for the Islanders' $32-million debt and that Pickett will continue to receive revenue from the team's contract with Cablevision.

NEW YORK - Cablevision Systems Corp. Chairman Charles Dolan plans to use $10 million of his cash and stock to fund the money-losing Voom satellite-television service until the end of March. Dolan, 78, will deposit cash, Class A and Class B shares with the Bethpage, N.Y.-based company to keep Voom afloat, according to a filing yesterday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Under a March 8 agreement, Dolan and his son, Thomas, have until March 31 to acquire Voom from Cablevision, the biggest cable television operator in the New York area.

WASHINGTON - AT&T Corp. said yesterday that it is endeavoring to sell a $1.98 billion stake in Cablevision Systems Corp., the New York City area's largest cable-television provider, as it moves to pay down debt. AT&T wants to register 30 million Cablevision shares, valued at $1.98 billion based on Friday's close, for possible sale, it said in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing. AT&T now owns 48.9 million Cablevision Class A common shares, giving it a roughly one-third stake in the Bethpage, N.Y.-based company.

NEW YORK - Cablevision Systems Corp., the largest cable operator in the New York area, said yesterday that federal regulators have opened a formal investigation into improper accounting at the company that led to the firing of 14 employees. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission also subpoenaed records, Cablevision said in a regulatory filing. The company said it notified the SEC and the U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn about accounting irregularities it uncovered at its American Movie Classics unit.

Comcast Cablevision of Harford County and Arts and Entertainment network will present a communications system to Joppatowne Library on Oct. 19.The communications system, valued at $3,000, includes A&E program books, a videocassette recorder and a television set.

The public hearing was intended to give citizens a chance to air their thoughts on having a second cable television company open shop in town.Instead, Monday's hourlong session before the Town Council became a war of rhetoric between representatives of the cable companies.Prestige Cable TV of Maryland Inc., which serves about 900 Mount Airy residents, squared off against Frederick Cablevision Inc., whichhopes to be invited by the council to compete with Prestige.Fourcitizens squeezed in comments.

In the Region Cablevision cancels Lockheed contract for five satellites Cablevision Systems Corp., the largest cable-television provider in the New York area, has canceled a 2004 contract with Lockheed Martin Corp. of Bethesda to build five satellites for its Voom television operation. Cablevision had agreed to pay $740 million over four years to Lockheed for the satellites and related equipment, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Terms of the cancellation weren't disclosed.

NEW YORK - Cablevision Systems Corp. Chairman Charles Dolan plans to use $10 million of his cash and stock to fund the money-losing Voom satellite-television service until the end of March. Dolan, 78, will deposit cash, Class A and Class B shares with the Bethpage, N.Y.-based company to keep Voom afloat, according to a filing yesterday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Under a March 8 agreement, Dolan and his son, Thomas, have until March 31 to acquire Voom from Cablevision, the biggest cable television operator in the New York area.

NEW YORK - Cablevision Systems Corp., the largest cable operator in the New York area, said yesterday that federal regulators have opened a formal investigation into improper accounting at the company that led to the firing of 14 employees. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission also subpoenaed records, Cablevision said in a regulatory filing. The company said it notified the SEC and the U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn about accounting irregularities it uncovered at its American Movie Classics unit.

NEW YORK - For about four months early last year, Steve Willett had been looking for a job. The laid-off project manager from Jericho, N.Y., sent resumes, made phone calls and attended networking events. Nary a nibble. After hearing one fellow job hunter say, "I'm a CEO, and people won't even look at my resume," Willett started thinking last spring about how to make himself stand out from the crowd. Which is what led him to think of putting his photo and resume on a 2 1/2 -by-3 1/2 -inch card (the size of a baseball trading card)

WASHINGTON - AT&T Corp. said yesterday that it is endeavoring to sell a $1.98 billion stake in Cablevision Systems Corp., the New York City area's largest cable-television provider, as it moves to pay down debt. AT&T wants to register 30 million Cablevision shares, valued at $1.98 billion based on Friday's close, for possible sale, it said in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing. AT&T now owns 48.9 million Cablevision Class A common shares, giving it a roughly one-third stake in the Bethpage, N.Y.-based company.

WASHINGTON - In his 22 years on television in this mecca of self-promotion, Brian Lamb has not once uttered his own name. In his hour-long interview show "Booknotes" each week, Lamb appears on camera for about four minutes. His guest gets the other 56. And when Capitol Hill's gossipy social season rolls around, Lamb is not among the Congressmen, Cabinet secretaries and celebrity journalists who gather to drop names and rub elbows. If you're wondering how anyone could possibly run a TV network this way in an environment so conducive to bluster over substance, then you just don't understand Lamb or C-Span, the cable network he founded in 1979.

MOUNT AIRY -- Town residents who want to switch from Prestige Cable TV Inc. to Frederick Cablevision Inc. may be able to do so this fall, a spokesman for the Frederick company said."

A proposed sale of assets between Prestige Cable TV Inc. and Frederick Cablevision Inc. may give Carroll residents an opportunity to see Frederick Keys games on television.The proposal came late Wednesday night at a meeting of Mount Airy's cable committee, during a discussion of Prestige selling its cables, amplifiers and other equipment in the town to Frederick Cablevision.The two companies began negotiating about three weeks ago when the Frederick company began laying cable under the Mount Airy franchise it received in July.