Cablevision profit triples, shares rise

By Franklin Paul

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Cablevision Systems Corp posted a higher-than-expected profit on growth in Internet subscribers and advertising and cost-cutting, and said its Madison Square Garden spin-off should be completed by year-end.

Shares of the New York cable operator rose more than 2 percent after it said profit more than tripled to $98.9 million, or 33 cents a share. Last year it earned $30.9 million, or 11 cents per share.

Revenue grew 5.3 percent to $1.84 billion, also beating Wall Street estimates.

Analysts on average had been expecting profit of 26 cents a share on revenue of $1.82 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Cablevision Chief Executive James Dolan said the company is "moving forward" with its planned spin-off of the Madison Square Garden business, and expects to get the deal done by the end of this year.

The Dolan family hopes to get a better valuation from Wall Street for assets that include the New York Knicks basketball team and Radio City Music Hall. Some analysts have valued MSG at between $1.5 billion to $2 billion as a stand-alone business plus debt.

Under the new structure, the Dolans would continue to hold a controlling stake in MSG, which also owns the namesake arena and New York Rangers hockey team. The company said that in the third quarter, MSG's revenue was $162 million, up 1 percent from the same period one year ago.

James Dolan will become executive chairman of the new public company and continue as CEO of Cablevision. Cablevision founder Charles Dolan will continue as Cablevision chairman.