Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) will pay $21 million to Thomas Dolan, a company board member and son of founder Charles Dolan, to settle a five-year-old compensation suit.
The payment was disclosed in a filing with the Securities Exchange Commission. Thomas Dolan filed the claim in 2011, following the shuttering of Voom HD. He previously served as CEO of Rainbow Media Enterprises, which housed the all-HD channel, along with AMC and IFC.
In 2011, Rainbow was spun off from Cablevision as AMC Networks. Voom, which was launched a time when there was little HD programming, succumbed after pretty much every programmer launched their own HD channel.
Thomas Dolan currently holds the title of executive VP of strategy and development at Cablevision. The suit related to matters occurring between 2005 to 2008.
"This matter from a decade ago has been settled," Cablevision said in a statement. "It has been handled by an independent committee of the board of directors and the company will have no comment."
According to the SEC documents, Charles Dolan and company CEO James Dolan will pay a total of $6 million to Cablevision in the event the MSO's proposed merger with Altice NV is not approved by federal regulators.
Last week, New York City officials said they have "serious concerns" over the proposed $17.7 billion takeover of Cablevision by Europe's Altice NV.
In a filing made with the New York Public Service Commission, NYC officials said the merger poses "key public interest questions."
With Bethpage, N.Y.-based Cablevision serving 3.1 million customers in New York City, local officials are concerned that Altice's pledge to trim $900 million from the MSO's operating budget will result in significant job losses, as well as the inability to execute on promises of high-speed broadband buildout.
For more:
- read this Wall Street Journal story
- read this Multichannel News story
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