Never a Dolan Moment

Word that Cablevision was eager to pony up for a piece of Adelphia left Wall St cold, as the MSO’s stock closed down 5.7% at $27.35. Cablevision could throw its hat in with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts’ $15mln offer, a move that could push Time Warner Cable and Comcast into the cold. While Cablevision didn’t comment on such speculation in The NY Times, analysts seemed outright dismissive of the story. UBS analyst Aryeh Bourkoff questioned CVC’s "strategic direction," noting "the lack of uniformity on the Cablevision board could make it difficult to pursue any transaction in an expeditious manner." Wachovia’s Jeff Wlodarczak surmised Cablevision could be "trying to force the hand of Time Warner/Comcast to bid on CVC’s cable properties;" Oppenheimer’s Thomas Eagan doesn’t think CVC "would commit to a bid for Adelphia, just as we do not think that CVC’s $760mm bid for the Hudson Yards … has a lot of ‘teeth’ in it." Fulcrum’s Richard Greenfield said while The Times report was a surprise, his firm doesn’t believe a bid "changes the likelihood that CVC [will be] sold over the next 12-24 months … and it might even accelerate the process." — The speculation could be a shot in the arm for Adelphia and other smaller ops, Bourkoff says. It "highlights the value of the Adelphia clusters." And a bidding war could help raise valuations for Charter, he adds.