The Cablevision Story: From a Garage on Long Island to NYC’s largest Cable Provider

Cablevision founder and chairman Charles Dolan (l.) and company president and CEO James Dolan

Cablevision’s recent proposal to provide Wifi for commuter trains on the Long Island Railroad and Metro North is an “enhancement” that few could argue with. New York City’s MTA invited companies to make their bid, and Cablevision (@cablevision) seems to be the obvious fit according to John Bickham, who is Cablevision’s president of cable and communications.

“As a New York-based company already providing popular WiFi access at nearly 200 MTA commuter rail stations we propose to deploy wireless Internet access across the entire MTA system within 12 months of selection, at no cost to the Transportation Authority or taxpayers.”

Now that’s an offer that’s hard to beat! But who have imagined that this company, which began as a family startup in a garage on Long Island in 1973, would one day “assume all costs associated with extending its Optimum WiFi network onto the trains and would also create a separate, private and secure, WiFi network exclusively for MTA use” — All in less than 12 months?

This is the fruit of entrepreneurship at its best. Charles “Chuck” Dolan was a visionary and cable was his medium. He took an idea and built it into an empire that now employs thousands, including three of his 6 adult children. It’s currently the largest cable cluster in the nation, supporting over 3 million cable television households. This is the fruit of a company he began in the 1960s when he founded Sterling Manhattan Cable, the first urban cable television company in the nation.

I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and working with both Chuck Dolan and his son, Jim Dolan at Cablevision’s headquarters in Bethpage, NY where the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well. During its 50 years of operation, the company expanded into TV programming with Rainbow Media, and for 10 years, until February of 2010, they owned and operated Madison Square Garden before it became a separate public company.

It seems the Dolans are always looking for the next opportunity to improve service in the entertainment and communications industry. Dolan senior truly had a vision when he moved his family to New York in the 1960s. Now it looks as though Cablevision may have found another way make a difference in the daily lives of as many as 10 million New York City commuters. Here’s hoping the MTA knows a good thing when they see it!

Betsy Shulman

The Elephant Entrepreneur

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