Company's Board of Directors Authorizes Management to Make Regulatory Filings to Formally Pursue Madison Square Garden Spin-Off

Cablevision Systems Corporation (NYSE:CVC) today reported financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2009.

Second quarter consolidated net revenues grew 9.8% to $1.876 billion compared to the prior year period, reflecting solid revenue growth in Telecommunications Services and Rainbow (primarily due to Sundance which had a full quarter’s worth of results in 2009 compared to two weeks in 2008) as well as the addition of Newsday in the 2009 results. Consolidated adjusted operating cash flow (“AOCF”) ¹ increased 6.8% to $636.3 million and consolidated operating income grew 15.0% to $336.5 million, both compared to the prior year period.

Operating highlights for the second quarter 2009 include:

• Year-to-date Consolidated Free Cash Flow from Continuing Operations¹ of $402.6 million
• Cable Television net revenue growth of 4.6% and AOCF growth of 6.1% for the quarter
• Revenue Generating Unit (“RGU”) additions of 102,800 for the quarter and 383,200 since June 2008
• Average Monthly Revenue per Basic Video Customer (“RPS”) of $139.69 in the second quarter of 2009

Cablevision President and CEO James L. Dolan commented: "For the second quarter, Cablevision enjoyed solid increases in both revenue and AOCF. The company also generated more than $200 million in free cash flow, bringing the total amount for the first six months of 2009 to $403 million. Meanwhile, our cable operations continued to add revenue generating units, including nearly 40,000 new voice customers, which helped maintain Cablevision’s industry-leading penetration rates. And finally, Cablevision’s board of directors authorized the company’s management to make the regulatory filings to formally pursue the spin-off of the Madison Square Garden business, which will create two distinct companies, logically organized, with defined strategies and enhanced clarity for investors,” Mr. Dolan concluded.

Results from Continuing Operations ²

Segment results for the quarters ended June 30, 2009 and 2008 are as follows:

1. See definition of adjusted operating cash flow (“AOCF”) and Consolidated Free Cash Flow from Continuing Operations included in the discussion of non-GAAP financial measures on page 4 of this earnings release.

2. Operating results of FSN Bay Area and Rainbow DBS’ distribution operations are included in discontinued operations for all periods presented as applicable.

3. Madison Square Garden’s business unit has revised its quarterly and annual cut off methodology utilized with respect to certain revenue and expense items. Financial information for all periods presented in this earnings release reflects the impact of these changes.

Telecommunications Services – Cable Television and Lightpath

Telecommunications Services includes Cable Television – Cablevision’s “Optimum” branded video, high-speed data, and voice residential and commercial services offered over its cable infrastructure -- and its “Optimum Lightpath” branded commercial data and voice services.

Telecommunications Services net revenues for the second quarter 2009 rose 5.0% to $1.356 billion, AOCF grew 6.8% to $553.3 million and operating income increased 15.0% to $327.4 million, all compared to the prior year period.

Cable Television

Cable Television second quarter 2009 net revenues increased 4.6% to $1.298 billion, AOCF rose 6.1% to $528.3 million and operating income increased 13.7% to $323.5 million, each compared to the prior year period. The increases in net revenues, AOCF and operating income were principally driven by the growth in digital video, high-speed data, and voice customers as well as higher rates reflected in second quarter 2009 results.

The second quarter 2009 results reflect:

• Basic video customers down 8,700 or 0.3% from March 2009 and down 38,000 or 1.2% from June 2008
• iO: Interactive Optimum digital video customers up 56,000 or 2.0% from March 2009 and 113,200 or 4.1% from June 2008
• Optimum Online high-speed data customers up 17,900 or 0.7% from March 2009 and 107,500 or 4.5% from June 2008
• Optimum Voice customers up 37,600 or 2.0% from March 2009 and 200,500 or 11.3% from June 2008
• Revenue Generating Units up 102,800 or 1.0% from March 2009 and 383,200 or 3.8% from June 2008
• Cable Television RPS of $139.69, up $3.14 or 2.3% from the first quarter of 2009 and up $7.40 or 5.6% from the second quarter of 2008

Optimum Lightpath

For second quarter 2009, Lightpath net revenues decreased 2.4% to $59.9 million, AOCF increased 21.6% to $25.0 million and operating income improved $3.8 million to $4.0 million, each as compared to the prior year period. Second quarter 2009 results were impacted by adjustments to intra-segment revenues and interconnection charges both of which were reduced by a favorable resolution of disputed third party charges. If excluded, revenue growth would have been 7.0%, AOCF growth would have been 14.1% and operating income would have increased by $2.3 million for the quarter. The improved results were due principally to the continued expansion of the more efficient, higher margin Ethernet business and include the impact of the acquisition of 4Connections in October 2008.

Rainbow

Rainbow consists of the Rainbow National Services (“RNS”) – AMC, WE tv and IFC – as well as Other Programming which includes: Sundance (effective June 16, 2008), News 12 Networks, VOOM HD (domestic programming discontinued in January 2009), IFC Entertainment, Rainbow Network Communications, Rainbow Advertising Sales Corp. and other Rainbow ventures.

Rainbow net revenues for the second quarter of 2009 increased 5.3% to $252.3 million, AOCF rose 22.2% to $88.3 million, and operating income grew 61.1% to $49.0 million, all compared to the prior year period.

AMC/WE tv/IFC

Second quarter 2009 net revenues grew 6.7% to $199.1 million, AOCF increased 5.3% to $95.6 million and operating income grew 5.7% to $77.5 million, each compared to the prior year period.

The second quarter 2009 AOCF results reflect:

• Viewing subscriber increases of 5.7% at WE tv, 5.2% at IFC and 1.4% at AMC, all compared to June 2008
• A 9.9% increase in affiliate revenue compared to the prior year period
• A 2.3% increase in advertising revenue, as compared to the prior year period, driven principally by higher pricing at WE tv
• An 8.0% increase in operating costs compared to the prior year period, primarily due to increased programming costs at AMC and WE tv related to original programming.

Other Programming

Second quarter 2009 net revenues were essentially flat at $58.2 million, AOCF deficit improved 60.4% to a deficit of $7.3 million and operating loss improved 33.6% to a loss of $28.5 million, all as compared to the prior year period. The benefit to revenue in the quarter derived by the addition of Sundance (acquired June 2008) was mostly offset by the impact of the discontinuation of the domestic programming business at VOOM HD and our VOD services (Lifeskool and sportskool) in the 2009 results. The improvement to the AOCF deficit and operating loss was primarily due to the addition of Sundance and cost savings related to VOOM HD.

Madison Square Garden

Madison Square Garden’s primary businesses include: MSG Media (MSG, MSG Plus, Fuse, and MSG Interactive), MSG Entertainment, and MSG Sports (including the New York Knicks, the New York Rangers, the New York Liberty and a wide variety of other premiere live sporting events). Its operations include the MSG Arena, The Theater at Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, the Beacon Theatre and The Chicago Theatre. In addition there is a booking arrangement related to the Wang Theatre in Boston.

Madison Square Garden's second quarter 2009 net revenues decreased 0.9% to $207.3 million, AOCF decreased 55.9% to $10.9 million and operating income decreased $11.1 million to a loss of $8.4 million, all compared to second quarter 2008.

MSG’s second quarter results were impacted by:

• MSG Media, including a $9.3 million increase in revenues due to higher affiliate fees
• MSG Sports, including a $3.0 million decrease in revenues, primarily related to lower playoff revenue
• MSG Entertainment, including an $8.7 million decrease in revenues due to fewer concerts and other entertainment events
• Higher administrative compensation costs of $21.4 million, due mostly to higher severance costs in the quarter as well as salary increases, offset by lower legal and other professional fees of $9.1 million and lower advertising and promotional expenses of $3.2 million.

Newsday

The Newsday segment consists of Newsday, a daily newspaper that primarily serves Long Island; amNewYork, a free daily serving New York City; various Internet properties including Newsday.com; and Star Community Publishing, the northeast's largest group of weekly shopper publications.

Newsday's second quarter 2009 net revenues were $88.7 million, AOCF was $5.0 million and operating loss was $2.6 million.

Other Matters

On July 29, 2009, the Board of Directors of Cablevision authorized the company’s management to file the appropriate documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the IRS to formally pursue a tax-free spin-off of its Madison Square Garden business. It is anticipated that the spin-off would take the form of a distribution to all shareholders of Cablevision, with holders of Class A common stock receiving Class A shares in Madison Square Garden and holders of Class B common stock receiving Class B shares in Madison Square Garden. James Dolan would become Executive Chairman of Madison Square Garden and would continue in his present role as President and CEO of Cablevision. Hank Ratner would become President and CEO of Madison Square Garden, and would remain Cablevision’s Vice Chairman. Completion of the spin-off is subject to numerous conditions and all required regulatory approvals, including receipt of a ruling from the IRS and final approval of the Cablevision Board of Directors. The Company hopes to complete this transaction by year-end 2009. The company issued today a separate press release on the board of directors’ approval to move forward with the spin-off of the Madison Square Garden business.

Separately, the Board of Directors of Cablevision declared a quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share on each outstanding share of both its Cablevision NY Group Class A Stock and its Cablevision NY Group Class B Stock. This quarterly dividend is payable on September 1, 2009 to shareholders of record at the close of business on August 10, 2009.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

We define adjusted operating cash flow (“AOCF”), which is a non-GAAP financial measure, as operating income (loss) before depreciation and amortization (including impairments), excluding share-based compensation expense or benefit and restructuring charges or credits. Because it is based upon operating income (loss), AOCF also excludes interest expense (including cash interest expense) and other non-operating income and expense items. We believe that the exclusion of share-based compensation expense or benefit allows investors to better track the performance of the various operating units of our business without regard to the distortive effects of fluctuating stock prices in the case of stock appreciation rights and, in the case of restricted shares and stock options, the settlement of an obligation that is not expected to be made in cash.

We present AOCF as a measure of our ability to service our debt and make continuing investments, including in our capital infrastructure. We believe AOCF is an appropriate measure for evaluating the operating performance of our business segments and the company on a consolidated basis. AOCF and similar measures with similar titles are common performance measures used by investors, analysts and peers to compare performance in our industry. Internally, we use net revenues and AOCF measures as the most important indicators of our business performance, and evaluate management’s effectiveness with specific reference to these indicators. AOCF should be viewed as a supplement to and not a substitute for operating income (loss), net income (loss), cash flows from operating activities, and other measures of performance and/or liquidity presented in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"). Since AOCF is not a measure of performance calculated in accordance with GAAP, this measure may not be comparable to similar measures with similar titles used by other companies. For a reconciliation of AOCF to operating income (loss), please see page 5 of this release.

We define Consolidated Free Cash Flow from Continuing Operations, (“Free Cash Flow”), which is a non-GAAP financial measure, as net cash from operating activities (continuing operations) less capital expenditures (continuing operations), both of which are reported in our Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows. Net cash from operating activities excludes net cash from operating activities of our discontinued operations. We believe the most comparable GAAP financial measure of our liquidity is net cash from operating activities. We believe that Free Cash Flow is useful as an indicator of our overall liquidity, as the amount of Free Cash Flow generated in any period is representative of cash that is available for debt repayment and other discretionary and non-discretionary cash uses. It is also one of several indicators of our ability to make investments and/or return capital to our shareholders. We also believe that Free Cash Flow is one of several benchmarks used by analysts and investors who follow our industry for comparison of our liquidity with other companies in our industry, although our measure of Free Cash Flow may not be directly comparable to similar measures reported by other companies.

COMPANY DESCRIPTION

Cablevision Systems Corporation is one of the nation's leading media and entertainment companies. Its cable television operations serve more than 3 million households in the New York metropolitan area. The company's advanced telecommunications offerings include its iO: Interactive Optimum digital television, Optimum Online high-speed Internet, Optimum Voice digital voice-over-cable, and its Optimum Lightpath integrated business communications services. Cablevision operates several successful programming businesses, including AMC, IFC, Sundance Channel and WE tv, through Rainbow Media Holdings LLC, and serves the New York area as publisher of Newsday and other niche publications through Newsday LLC. In addition to these businesses, Cablevision owns Madison Square Garden and its sports teams, the New York Knicks, Rangers and Liberty. The company operates New York's famed Radio City Music Hall, the Beacon Theatre, and The Chicago Theatre, and owns and operates Clearview Cinemas. Additional information about Cablevision Systems Corporation is available on the Web at www.cablevision.com.

This earnings release may contain statements that constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance or results and involve risks and uncertainties, and that actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including financial community and rating agency perceptions of the company and its business, operations, financial condition and the industries in which it operates and the factors described in the company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the sections entitled "Risk Factors" and "Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" contained therein. The company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained herein.

Cablevision’s Web site: www.cablevision.com

The conference call will be Webcast live today at 10:00 a.m. EST

Conference call dial-in number is (888) 694-4641/ Conference ID Number 15287039

Conference call replay number (706) 645-9291/ Conference ID Number 15287039 until August 6, 2009

Cablevision Systems Corporation
Charles Schueler, 516-803-1013
Senior Vice President
Media and Community Relations
or
Patricia Armstrong, 516-803-2270
Senior Vice President
Investor Relations