Are the Dolans of Cablevision running scared?

For years, heavyweight shareholders like Mario Gabelli have been putting pressure on the Dolans, who control the Long Island, New York, cable company with a 75 percent voting stake, to no avail. But it appears that recent investment by hedge fund Harbinger Capital Management has been the tipping point.

Harbinger, which has previously taken on New York Times Co. and Media General, has disclosed in regulatory filings that it has accumulated nearly 11.5 million Class A shares of Cablevision Systems, a 4.9 percent stake.

That may account for Cablevision's surprise announcement two weeks ago that it would explore strategic options to enhance shareholder value after years of seemingly focusing only on efforts to enhance Dolan-family value.

The company, which also owns Madison Square Garden, the New York Knicks, Newsday, and cable channels like AMC, said it would consider establishing a dividend, buying back stock, or spinning off business units. This morning, the company said that it would indeed start paying a dividend. It will pay 10 cents a share on both its Class A and Class B shares starting on September 18.

"This action is a part of the process we have undertaken to enhance shareholder value as we continue to explore other options that we believe will help align the market value of the company's common stock with Cablevision's underlying operating performance," said Cablevision's chief executive, James Dolan.

Cablevision management held a series of meetings this week with major shareholders, including Gabelli's Gamco, ClearBridge Advisors, and T. Rowe Price.

Richard Greenfield, a media analyst with Pali Research, wrote in a note on Thursday that it was probably the stake by Harbinger that provoked the Dolans into action.

"The Dolan family may be trying to head off a public 'war of words' in the media," he said.

Harbinger can claim some success with companies controlled by a family with super-voting rights. In May, it reached a deal with New York Times Co., controlled by the Sulzberger family, to get two seats on the board. Class A shares of New York Times, however, have only continued to slide.

Zac Bissonnette at 24/7 Wall St. notes that the time he said that "this quixotic activist campaign, however noble, is likely to result in a big fat nothing."

"So far, that's certainly been the case," he writes today, "and it likely will be at Cablevision too.