Bethpage, N.Y. — The Voom saga continues with Cablevision Systems, owners of the high-definition satellite TV service, giving chairman Chuck Dolan and his son Tom until March 31 to come up with funding to avoid its closing.
In a prepared statement yesterday Cablevision said its board has approved an agreement with Chuck and Tom Dolan to “work cooperatively to finalize the separation from Cablevision of its Rainbow DBS operation.”
Several board members including Dolan’s other son, James, who is Cablevision’s CEO, decided on Feb. 28 to close the money-losing operation. On March 1 Chuck Dolan, who controls a majority of a special class of stock with super voting rights, replaced one retired board members and three Cablevision directors who voted against him.
The agreement allows Rainbow DBS, parent company of Voom, to remain in operation and to continue to provide its service to subscribers while Charles and Thomas Dolan seek to arrange an alternate transaction that would avoid a shutdown.
Chuck Dolan has agreed to fund any costs incurred by Rainbow DBS above those that would have been incurred under a shutdown scenario.
