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Maybe they should change the name to Doublevision Systems, because the message coming out of Cablevision Systems Corp. these days couldn't be more confusing, polarizing and, to cable companies everywhere, agonizing.
Just when investor sentiment toward cablers is showing signs of improvement, cable pioneer Chuck Dolan has cast his lot with the satellite broadcasters. And he has done so in a way that could trigger a major rethink about cable's supposed superiority.
It's no longer a stretch to think Dolan would borrow against this trust — if not sell its Cablevision shares outright — to pursue his beam dream. Never mind that such a move would jeopardize the job security of another son, Jim Dolan, Cablevision's president and CEO. For this was the son who rallied the company's board against further support for Voom and, by extension, for his father.
That the senior Dolan refuses to acquiesce demonstrates his "obsession with Voom," reports Fulcrum Global Partners analyst Richard Greenfield, "and his complete lack of interest in the core cable business."
That Dolan thinks sat broadcasting is a good idea can no longer be doubted. He's not even new to the game, having partnered 15 years ago with News Corp.'s Rupert Murdoch and NBC's Bob Wright in a sat-TV startup called Sky Cable. Although bickering drove the partnership apart after a year, leaving it to fourth partner Hughes Electronics Corp. to pick up the pieces, the experience left all three exiting partners with what Schaeffler calls "the bug."
A world where marketing trumps technology requires a mindset different than the one Schaeffler contends has driven content distributors for years. "The smart guys have always known it's not about cable versus satellite versus broadcast versus telephony versus [Internet service provider]," he says. "It's all about delivering content down a pipe."
Maybe they should change the name to Doublevision Systems, because the message coming out of Cablevision Systems Corp. these days couldn't be more confusing, polarizing and, to cable companies everywhere, agonizing.
Just when investor sentiment toward cablers is showing signs of improvement, cable pioneer Chuck Dolan has cast his lot with the satellite broadcasters. And he has done so in a way that could trigger a major rethink about cable's supposed superiority.
It's no longer a stretch to think Dolan would borrow against this trust — if not sell its Cablevision shares outright — to pursue his beam dream. Never mind that such a move would jeopardize the job security of another son, Jim Dolan, Cablevision's president and CEO. For this was the son who rallied the company's board against further support for Voom and, by extension, for his father.
That the senior Dolan refuses to acquiesce demonstrates his "obsession with Voom," reports Fulcrum Global Partners analyst Richard Greenfield, "and his complete lack of interest in the core cable business."
That Dolan thinks sat broadcasting is a good idea can no longer be doubted. He's not even new to the game, having partnered 15 years ago with News Corp.'s Rupert Murdoch and NBC's Bob Wright in a sat-TV startup called Sky Cable. Although bickering drove the partnership apart after a year, leaving it to fourth partner Hughes Electronics Corp. to pick up the pieces, the experience left all three exiting partners with what Schaeffler calls "the bug."
A world where marketing trumps technology requires a mindset different than the one Schaeffler contends has driven content distributors for years. "The smart guys have always known it's not about cable versus satellite versus broadcast versus telephony versus [Internet service provider]," he says. "It's all about delivering content down a pipe."
