Dolan Family Offers $19 Billion in Bid to Take Cablevision Private

One of New York’s most powerful families, the Dolans, made a $19.2 billion leveraged bid yesterday to buy out the public shareholders of its cable television empire, Cablevision Systems, which also includes Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, the New York Knicks and the New York Rangers.

The offer comes a year and a half after the Dolan family, a sometimes fractious dynasty whose feuds have often spilled into public view and who have used their cable systems to fuel their political interests, proposed breaking the company in two. The family wanted to take over the lucrative cable systems but was forced to withdraw the plan when it met resistance from an independent committee of the company’s directors.