[3] Throughout its existence and in its final years, Cablevision exclusively served customers residing in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and a small part of Pennsylvania.

Through a series of transactions in the late 1990s, Cablevision decided to consolidate their cable systems into three core areas: New York, Cleveland, and Boston.

[7] In 2000, Cablevision sold-off its remaining systems outside the New York area in Boston,[8] Cleveland, and Kalamazoo, Michigan to MediaOne, Adelphia, and Charter Communications respectively.

[11] On September 17, 2015, it was announced that Patrick Drahi's European telecom conglomerate Altice would acquire Cablevision for $17.7 billion, including debt, pending regulatory approval.

In 2004 and 2005, Cablevision provided funding for an advertising campaign against the proposed construction of a stadium on the West Side of Manhattan supported by the Mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg.

Cablevision currently underwrites the foundation, covering all administrative and fundraising costs, allowing 100% of all donations to go directly to research programs and grants to help cure pancreatic cancer, as well as sponsoring dozens of walks/runs across the country.

[19] In 1994, Paramount Communications (formerly Gulf+Western), the owner of Madison Square Garden, was acquired by Viacom, who in turn sold the MSG properties to Cablevision and ITT Corporation, which had 50% ownership each.

Cablevision also previously attempted to purchase the Yankees,[22] Mets[23] and Boston Red Sox,[24] in part, to control their broadcast rights.

[26] On July 1, 2011, Cablevision spun off its subsidiary, formerly known as Rainbow Media LLC, into a new company named AMC Networks.

However, the 15 U.S. channels were eventually also shut down due to lack of distribution prior to the spinning off of Rainbow Media from Cablevision as the independent AMC Networks.

Since then the name was sold to P. C. Richard & Son and currently remains as a dormant subsidiary of the company only showing Wiz Deals on some P.C.

[30][31] The Dolan family maintained majority ownership of Newsday, with Altice USA having a 25% share until the properties were sold in 2023.

Cablevision did not carry most of the games of the New York Yankees in 2002, because they would not accept the price asked during the inaugural season of YES Network.

Cablevision joined the NCTC in August 2009 just to carry the Tennis Channel on the premium sports package which costs extra per month.

ESPN requires users to give what cable provider they subscribe to in order to watch and Cablevision had yet to agree to carry WatchESPN.

[40] Cablevision, as a content provider, also engaged in a dispute with Verizon over the carriage of MSG Network and Fox Sports Net New York on its FiOS television systems.

An agreement was reached in November 2006 (shortly after the NHL and NBA began their 2006-07 seasons) allowing FiOS to carry these channels.

Additionally, Cablevision owned exclusive rights to the MSNBC news network in its service territory, preventing its carriage by FiOS in overlapping areas.

[44] Cablevision issued a statement saying, "We wish Scripps well and have no expectation of carrying their programming again, given the dramatic changes in their approach to working with distributors to reach television viewers.

"[47] The removal of both stations occurred on the weekend of the 82nd Academy Awards, which was scheduled to be one of ABC's largest yearly specials, and was projected to cause a devastating blow to advertisers for the Oscars and to Cablevision itself.

Besides providing certain details of the disagreement they stated that ABC shows could be watched online through TV websites such as Hulu.

Also that day, Cablevision announced through e-mail that their entire film catalog of on-demand movies would be available without charge until midnight that evening as an apology to their customers.

Cablevision's contract with News Corp to carry FOX (including MyNetwork TV) expired on October 15, 2010.

On October 27, 2010, the same day as Game 1 of the World Series, Cablevision offered a new one-year deal to FOX, which was rejected, continuing the blackout.

"[52] In February 2011, Cablevision moved the Game Show Network (GSN) from the basic tier to an add-on sports package.

Tribune and their hedge fund owners are demanding tens of millions in new fees for WPIX and other stations they own.

"[54] Tribune, in its own statement, said that "Cablevision took this action despite our offer of an unconditional extension of the current carriage agreement with no change in terms while negotiations continued.

Tribune makes a substantial annual investment in local news, live sports and high-quality entertainment programming.

[55] The dispute between the two companies ended on October 26, 2012, when Cablevision reached an agreement with Tribune after Connecticut viewers complained about not seeing the first two games of the 2012 World Series.

On January 3, 2014, WFSB, the CBS station in Hartford, CT, pulled its signal from Cablevision's Connecticut systems.