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overview
holdings
landmarks
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landmarks
This chronology is indicative only. It covers -
Context is provided by the broader communications and
media timeline on this site.
antecedents
1926
New York Rangers hockey team founded by investor in Madison
Square Garden
1946 New York Knickerbockers (Knicks) established
1965 Charles Dolan gets cable tv franchise for half of
Manhattan in partnership with Time,
forms Sterling Manhattan Cable
1972 Time's Home Box Office (HBO) buys out Dolan
beginnings
1973 Dolan establishes Cablevision, buys Time’s Long Island
cable network for US$900,000.
1976 SportsChannel New York launched by Cablevision
1980 Cablevision forms Rainbow Media with Bravo as first
network wholly dedicated to film and performing arts on
110 cable systems in 22 US states. Rainbow subsequently
renamed Rainbow Media Group (RMG)
1981 Rainbow launches SportsChannel New England in Massachusetts,
Connecticut and Rhode Island
1984 Rainbow launches American Movie Classics (AMC), the
nation's first 24-hour cable network dedicated to the
world of classic American film
1984 RMG assumes management of SportsVision (later SportsChannel
Chicago)
1984 Rainbow Advertising Sales Corporation established
Cablevision listed
1985 Cablevision becomes public company
1985 establishes District Cablevision Limited Partnership
(Washington DC cable tv unit, 75% owned by AT&T, 25%
by Cablevision)
1986 RMG establishes News 12 Long Island regional news
network
1987 launches SportsChannel Florida
1989 NBC takes stake in RMG's sports,
news, and entertainment programming
1989 launch of SportsChannel Ohio
1990 joint venture U$1bn direct-broadcast satellite deal
with News, Hughes and NBC
(later dissolved)
1990 launch of SportsChannel Pacific
1991 Liberty Media takes stake
in SportsChannel Chicago and SportsChannel Pacific
1994 launch of MuchMusic music television
1994 RMG and CHUM Television Group
awarded license for Canadian cable channel (Bravo Canada)
1994 RMG launches The Independent Film Channel
1995 RMG and ITT buy Madison Square Garden group (MSG
Network, Knicks and Rangers)
1995 launch of News 12 Connecticut and News 12 Westchester
1996 launch of Bravo Brasil film and arts network in Brazil
in partnership with Abril's TVA
1996 launch of News 12 New Jersey in partnership with
Newhouse
1997 Cablevision buys ITT's stake in Madison Square Garden
1997 buys TCI's 820,000 Long Island subscribers
1997 NBC moves from stake in individual Rainbow networks
to equity in overall RMG company
Radio City
1997 Cablevision buys Radio City Entertainment and 25-year
lease of Radio City Music Hall
1997 launches Romance Classics
1997 establishes IFC Productions and Next Wave Films production
and financing companies
Murdoch
and Malone partnership
1998 partnership with Fox/Liberty to create Fox Sports
Net and Fox Sports National Advertising
1998 buys 40 store The Whiz consumer electronics chain
1998 buys Cleaview Cinema Group Inc (45 theatres) for
US$160m
1998 launch of News 12 The Bronx
1999 takes stake in "acclaimed culture portal"
Salon.com
1999 sells cable operations in Boston, Michigan, Chicago
and Ohio
1999 sells stake in District Cablevision Limited Partnership
to AT&T
1999 Charles Dolan's brother buys Cleveland Indians sports
team for US$323m
2000 buys 100% of SportsChannel Florida
2000 buys CHUM Television's 50%
stake in MuchMusic USA
2000 interests in Latin America sold to Liberty subsidiary,
Pramer of Buenos Aires
2001 Romance Classics re-branded to WE: Women's Entertainment
("the network that helps women reconnect, refocus
and rediscover the issues that are most important to them")
2001 MGM
buys 20% stake in four national RMG channels for US$825
million
2001 Cablevision sells Ohio cable systems to Adelphia
Communications for US$1.4bn (Adelphia goes into receivership
in 2002)
2001 AT&T buys Cablevision cable systems (358,000
subscribers) in Boston and Eastern Massachusetts for US$1.16bn
2001 Cablevision buys AT&T cable tv systems in northern
New York suburbs
2001 AT&T announces planned sale of stake in Cablevision
and Rainbow
out of hardware
2002 Cablevision sheds some Whiz and Clearview units
2002 sells Bravo channel to NBC
for US$1.25bn
2003 transfers loss-making THE WIZ to GBO Electronics
Acquisition
2003 joint venture Northcoast Communications LLC sells
50 PCS licenses and related network assets to Verizon
Wireless for US$750m
2003 buys buy Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's 20% stake in AMC,
IFC and WE: Women's Entertainment national cable networks
for US$500m
2003 announces plan to split group
2003 launches Voom high definition satellite broadcast
service
2005 sells Rainbow DBS satellite broadcasting arm to EchoStar
for US$200m
2005 unsuccessfully bids US$16.5bn for Adelphia
Communications cable group
2007 Comcast pays Rainbow Media Holdings US$570m for remaining
60% interest in FSN Bay Area and 50% interest in FSN New
England regional cable sports networks
2008 buys Sundance Channel from NBC
Universal, CBS and Robert Redford
for US$496m
2008 agrees to buy 97% stake in Newsday from
Tribune for US$650m
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