AMC Networks said its long-time executive chairman Charles Dolan will step down, becoming chairman emeritus of the programmer as his son and board member James Dolan was named non-executive chairman of the company.

An icon and innovator in the cable business -- he created what would become HBO in the 1970s  -- Charles Dolan, 93, has been executive chairman of AMC Networks ever since it was spun off from the former Cablevision Systems in 2011.

News of the executive changes comes as AMC said it will buy back about $250 million worth of its shares through a modified Dutch auction beginning Sept. 16. AMC will purchase Class A shares in the company at a price of between $22.50 and $26.50 per share (a nearly 28% premium to their closing price of $20.77 each on Sept. 15).

AMC shares have been hit hard during the pandemic -- prior to the buyback announcement the shares were down 7.7% on Sept. 15 to $20.77 each and have fallen 47% for the year. News of the buyback sent the shares up about 17% ($3.48 each) to $24.25 per share in after-hours trading Tuesday. 

In a modified Dutch auction, shareholders indicate how much stock and at what price they want to sell it within a specific range. The structure helps show a company’s confidence that the stock will return to its previous levels. 

“AMC Networks has a strong financial position and the proposed tender offer is a significant expression of strength and the Board’s confidence in our company’s future,” AMC CEO Josh Sapan said in a press release. “The Dolans have led this company from its inception, and both Charles and Jim have provided vision, guidance and support through its long history of growth and evolution. We look forward to their continued leadership as AMC Networks continues to stand out in a crowded environment through the strength and quality of our content and ability to forge strong and lasting relationships with viewers and fans.”

Earlier Tuesday AMC Networks said its chief financial officer Sean Sullivan will step down in mid-October to take a job with another company. In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, AMC said Sullivan's departure was not related to any disagreement with the company concerning its operations, policies or practices. Later in the day satellite radio giant Sirius XM said it had named Sullivan as its new CFO, effective Oct. 26. 

The joint dealer managers for the tender offer are BofA Securities, Inc. and Citigroup Global Markets Inc. D.F. King & Co., Inc. is serving as information agent for the tender offer and Equiniti Trust Company is serving as the depositary for the tender offer.

Forty years ago, a group of industry pioneers gathered in Vero Beach, Fla., to take part in cable programming’s version of Kitty Hawk.

It was Sept. 30, 1975, and the industry leaders, flanked by a 10-meter satellite dish and nattily dressed in 1970sstyle suits, oversaw the live satellite telecast of the Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier “Thrilla in Manila” boxing match on HBO. The launch of HBO on satellite is regarded as the birth of the modern cable industry.

“It was a tremendous surge of pride in the industry to be able to bring that into homes,” Jerry Levin, then president of HBO, said in an interview.

“It’s a reminder that a band of relatively small entrepreneurs were able to change the face of American video,” Levin said. “Going up on the satellite was really the impetus for all the programming we see today.”

In addition to boosting the fortunes of HBO, the next five years saw the satellite launch of major cable network brands, including CNN, TBS, ESPN, MTV, BET, Nickelodeon, Showtime, USA Network, WGN, Bravo, CBN (now ABC Family) and C-SPAN.

Satellite pioneer Sid Topol, who supplied dishes for the HBO telecast while chairman and CEO of Scientific-Atlanta, recalled in an interview: “It was a money maker for everyone from day one, including me. I couldn’t build earth stations fast enough.

“HBO took off, and the cable systems became viable and could franchise in the big cities. Before that, it didn’t work,” he said.

Before satellite delivery, cable programming had to be delivered to systems by terrestrial microwave technology or by “bicycling” videotape — that is, delivering it by hand. Reaching a mass audience was nearly impossible.

In 1972, Levin worked with Chuck Dolan at Sterling Manhattan Cable to develop a pay TV service that he named Home Box Office. Time Inc. took full ownership of HBO, but soon threatened to shut down the unprofitable enterprise, according to Levin, who tried anything to increase subscribers, including giving away free turkeys.

Meanwhile, Topol, who had experience with international satellites, promoted domestic satellite delivery of programming. Cable operators such as Bob Rosencrans, president of UA-Columbia Cablevision, were looking for more content to make cable more viable with consumers.

During an National Cable Television Association convention in Anaheim, Calif., in 1973, S-A demonstrated satellite capability, including a live broadcast with House Speaker Carl Albert. HBO arranged for a live satellite telecast of a boxing match beamed from Madison Square Garden to the Disneyland Hotel.

But the fight ended with a first-round knockout, so quick that even Levin missed it. The demo was met largely with concern about potential satellite failures and a cost of about $100,000 to install a 10-meter earth station.

Topol said he kept getting asked, “Where are the programs going to come from?”

Nonetheless, Levin remained intrigued and Topol continued to promote satellite’s benefits. The Ali-Frazier fight in Manila — the third of their famous bouts — presented a new opportunity to use satellite distribution for cable.

In those days, boxing made significant money through closed-circuit broadcasts in movie theaters. HBO was allowed to deliver Ali-Frazier via a Westar satellite only to two cable operators: UA-Columbia in Ft Pierce-Vero Beach, Fla., and a Jackson, Miss., system owned by ATC, founded by Monty Rifkin.

First, the systems had to get FCC permission to erect satellite receive-only dishes. Cable had competing interests that could object, including movie studios and broadcasters, but none did. The FCC, however, was concerned about technical interference, according to The Cable Center’s archives.

Transmissions from Manila had to take a series of hops around the world to get to Vero Beach. There, in a Holiday Inn ballroom, Rosencrans flipped a switch to start the telecast of the fight, which Ali won by technical knockout after 14 rounds.

“When you looked at the close-ups, the fighters looked like they were in the next room, the picture quality was that extraordinary,” Rosencrans said in an interview for Columbia University. “We knew we had a winner. We knew this was a big day.”

In December 1975, RCA launched a Satcom satellite bird 23,300 miles into orbit, and HBO leased transponder space. The next year, the FCC approved smaller, more affordable 4.5-meter receive- only dishes for cable systems.

Topol talked to an ambitious Ted Turner, who turned WTBS-TV, a small Atlanta TV station, into the first nationwide superstation in 1976 and launched CNN in 1980. After the first wave of satellite network launches, a second wave from 1980 to 1985 included Discovery Channel, Disney Channel, A&E Network, AMC, HSN, Headline News, Lifetime and The Weather Channel.

“There would be no Golden Age of Programming today if there hadn’t been this proliferation of networks,” said Levin, who served as chairman and CEO of Time Warner, Inc. from 1993 to 2002.

Satellite also produced cable’s biggest competitors through the mid-’90s launch of DirecTV and Dish Network.

Today, Levin, 76, recently founded The Levin Center for Parkinson’s Transformational Health; Topol, 90, is active in political causes in Boston; and Rosencrans, 88, lives in Greenwich, Conn. All are Cable Hall of Fame members.

Craig Leddy is a student of cable history who teaches How Cable Works courses.

RELATED: Dolans to Drahi: Cash and Carry

With the stroke of his pen, the maverick European telecom mogul Patrick Drahi cemented Altice’s U.S. foothold as the fourth-largest cable operator with a $17.7 billion, all-cash deal to purchase Cablevision Systems, one of cable’s oldest family-owned companies.

The Cablevision deal comes on the heels of Altice’s pending $9.1 billion purchase of Suddenlink Communications, a midsized operator with 1.2 million customers in the Southwest and Midwest. With Cablevision, Drahi’s Altice gets 2.7 million cable customers in the country’s largest market — metropolitan New York City, specifically the Bronx, parts of Brooklyn, Long Island, and parts of New Jersey and Connecticut — and overnight becomes the largest foreign owner of a U.S. cable MSO, with 4 million subscribers.

But Altice’s speedy ascension up the cable ranks — it had no U.S. presence six months ago — brings with it vast uncertainties. And while chairman Patrick Drahi believes he can better run a U.S. cable business by applying European cost disciplines, some analysts believe he will face big challenges.

“Six months ago, we were nonexistent,” Drahi said at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia conference, adding that the new company still has more room to grow.

“This is moving fast, but we’re not in a hurry,” Drahi said. “There are more opportunities to consolidate at these same prices.”

Most analysts agree that Cablevision could be the tip of the iceberg for Altice.

“In our view, clearly Altice is not done with its acquisition strategy, and this could include any telco assets not nailed down,” wrote Pivotal Research CEO and senior media & communications analyst Jeff Wlodarczak.

Critics immediately centered on the deal’s high price — it works out to about 9.5 times cash flow, not including synergies, and 6.1 times with synergies — and what many have said are unrealistic cost-cutting goals. Typical deals are in the range of 7 to 8 times cash flow.

In a blog post, MoffettNathanson principal and senior analyst Craig Moffett said squeezing $900 million in cost synergies from Cablevision could be a chore, especially since Charter Communications has said it will derive about $800 million in cost synergies in its merger with Time Warner Cable, a company about five times larger than Cablevision.

“Cost reductions like those won’t just mean cutting SG&A,” Moffett wrote. “It will mean slashing customer service; repair and maintenance; and sales and marketing (specifically, channel-mix optimization and back-office upgrades). It’s hard not to imagine that that might have at least some impact on market share.”

Altice is one of the most rapidly growing telecom companies in Europe. Based in the Netherlands, it spent about $28 billion on deals in 2014 alone. Altice has about 3.1 million cable customers in France and Israel and more than 20 million wireless customers across Europe.

Altice has managed to squeeze profits out of its businesses with a “slash-and-burn approach,” drastically reducing head count, eliminating what it says are unnecessary costs and aggressively negotiating contracts with suppliers.

Drahi said he also sees savings in electricity costs, by eliminating amplifiers in the network, and in shifting more of the sales function online.

“My model is to bring U.S. ARPU to Europe and the European expense to the U.S.,” Drahi said.

The recipe is simple, Drahi added — control excess costs and the cash flow will take care of itself.

Altice also sees cost-cutting opportunities in employee salaries. CEO Dexter Goei said more than 300 Cablevision employees make $300,000 per year or more.

“I understand that,” Goei said at the conference. “There’s a new sheriff in town. We will probably run things a little differently.”

Still, cost containment wasn’t Cablevision’s only problem. The company has been bleeding subscribers in the past few years after a strong period of growth in the early 2000s. According to Moffett, video subscriber losses in two key areas — the New York boroughs of the Bronx and Brooklyn — have accelerated to 6% and 8% in the past quarter, indicating that Cablevision’s competitive position against Verizon Communications’s FiOS TV is worse than it has been letting on.

Verizon chairman and CEO Lowell McAdam told CNBC’s David Faber last week that he welcomes Altice as a competitor, adding that while Drahi talks tough, he’s heard it before.

“Success in Europe or Asia doesn’t necessarily mean success in the U.S.,” McAdam told CNBC. “Our product, fundamentally, is superior when you have fiber into the home versus any of the DOCSIS products. We welcome them into the market.”

Drahi’s strategy hasn’t quite been solidified yet, but he hinted that higher prices for broadband and more flexible video packaging could be a path. “I think broadband is too cheap,” he said.

In a research note, Moffett said that higher broadband prices may be the only way Altice can offset video losses.

“Verizon’s FiOS brand managers must be licking their chops,” Moffett wrote.

RELATED:A Cable Empire Grows — Fast

In the end, it took a foreigner to do what no domestic cable company could do for the past two decades — convince the Dolan family to sell Cablevision Systems.

Altice’s purchase of Bethpage, N.Y.-based Cablevision for a hefty $17.7 billion marks the end of an era that was begun by Cleveland native Charles Dolan 42 years ago. Dolan, who started out in the TV business by splicing together sports clips for local television stations in his kitchen, had a hand in developing the modern cable industry.

It was Charles Dolan who first thought of a cable channel that showed uncut movies (which later became HBO); who wired Manhattan for cable TV; who developed regional sports channels; and who took a small cable system in Long Island and built it into one of the top performers in the industry.

When Dolan’s son Jim took the helm as CEO in 1995, that growth continued. Cablevision had the highest penetration of advanced services; pioneered the triple play of voice, video and data; and dedicated the capital to build an unparalleled WiFi network when other MSOs were concentrating on cellular service.

Despite its success — and some say because of it — Cablevision has stumbled of late. Slim growth prospects and tougher competition from a reawakened Verizon FiOS, as a well as threats from over-the-top competitors such as Netflix and Hulu, have forced the company to rethink its strategy.

Lately, that has meant focusing on connectivity. The company has made some landmark deals with Netflix, Hulu, HBO Now and others; launched a WiFi-only phone service called Freewheel; and offered a package of high-speed data service and a digital antenna, dubbed the “cord-cutter package,” for cost-conscious millennials.

But that hasn’t been enough to stem subscriber losses. According to MoffettNathanson principal and senior analyst Craig Moffett, competition with FiOS has been worse than expected. Citing U.S. Copyright Office statistics, Moffett said in a recent report that in the second quarter Cablevision had lost about 6% of its subscriber base in the Bronx and 8% of its base in Brooklyn. It seems like the Dolans, who have been known for their scrappiness and refusal to quit, have had enough.

The family said almost as much, saying a statement that nearly half a century after the company was founded, “the time is right for new ownership of Cablevision and its considerable assets.”

“We believe that Patrick Drahi and Altice will be truly worthy successors, and we look forward to doing all we can to affect this transition for our customers and employees,” the statement read. “We expect that Cablevision will be in excellent hands.”

The Dolans also will be well-compensated for their troubles. According to a proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, CEO Jim Dolan will receive a package worth $128 million in severance, bonus and stocks awards if he is not kept on as CEO.

There has been speculation concerning a Cablevision sale for more than 20 years. In the early 2000s, the Dolan family, taking advantage of cheap debt, tried to take Cablevision private three times, only to be thwarted by minority shareholders. After that, Cablevision embarked on a divestiture strategy, spinning off its programming assets into AMC Networks and its sports and arena business into The Madison Square Garden Co. MSG is set to be split yet again, into separate sports and entertainment companies, later this year.

Other analysts weren’t too surprised the Dolans decided the time was right to sell. They pointed to comments Jim Dolan made at the INTX show in May, in which he called for the New York market, his market, to be consolidated.

“They found a buyer,” Telsey Advisory Group media analyst Tom Eagan, a longtime Dolan watcher, said. “If it’s not him [Drahi], who is it going to be next year? It’s unlikely it’s going to be anybody local, and private equity probably isn’t as attractive as it used to be because of the lower cash-flow growth. They’re kind of lucky that they have Drahi in the company.”

European telco Altice didn’t waste any time pushing toward the top of the list among top cable operators, agreeing to purchase Cablevision Systems in a cash and assumed debt deal valued at $17.7 billion.

The deal, expected to close in the first half of 2016, when combined with Altice’s pending acquisition of Suddenlink Communications, will create the fourth largest cable operator in the country with about 4.6 million video customers. In addition to Cablevision’s cable systems in the New York metropolitan area, Altice also will acquire Cablevision’s business services unit Lightpath, its local new operations News 12 and publishing unit Newsday.

The deal brings to an end virtually decades of speculation regarding Cablevision’s ruling Dolan family’s intentions for the cable unit. Over the years the cable operations were rumored to have been sold to Time Warner Cable and other larger operators only to be scrapped at the last minute. The family also unsuccessfully attempted to take the company private three times in the earlier part of the last decade.

“As a family business we are proud to be entrusted by the Dolan family with the ownership of Cablevision and look forward to continuing the pioneering path they have paved for us,” Altice chairman and founder Patrick Drahi said in a statement. “The strategy of Altice in the large and highly strategic US market is reinforced with the acquisition of Cablevision. We will be in a stronger position, as in all other markets in which we operate, to deliver the best services, invest in the most advanced technology, and develop innovative products for the benefit of our customers.”

Cablevision, founded by chairman Charles Dolan in 1973, has been a pioneer in the business – it was the first to successfully launch a $90 triple play and has made countless innovations in the industry.

Lately, Cablevision CEO James Dolan has set the company on a connectivity path, offering cord-cutter packages, and striking deals with over-the-top video companies like Netflix and Hulu.

In the end, it appears the competitive pressures and the consolidation movement that has swept the industry in the wake of Charter Communications’ pending $78.7 billion purchase of Time Warner Cable  forced the company to look for deals. At INTX: The Internet & Television Expo in Chicago in May,  James Dolan told an audience that operators should focus on consolidating markets instead of companies and offered the New York metro market as an example. Asked at the time whether that meant Dolan was putting Cablevision up for sale, the CEO replied that he was “proposing a commune.”

“Since Charles Dolan founded Cablevision in 1973, the Dolan family has been honored to help shepherd our customers and employees through the most extraordinary communications revolution in modern history,” James Dolan said in a statement. “Now, nearly half a century later, the time is right for new ownership of Cablevision and its considerable assets. We believe that Patrick Drahi and Altice will be truly worthy successors, and we look forward to doing all we can to affect this transition for our customers and employees. We expect that Cablevision will be in excellent hands.”

“For the Dolan family, we move forward with AMC Networks and The Madison Square Garden Company – two and, eventually, three public companies – all born of Cablevision and each with brighter prospects today than ever before,” James Dolan continued. “With profound gratitude to our employees, customers and shareholders who have made our vision a reality, the Dolans look forward to continuing this fascinating journey.”

The transaction is to be financed with $14.5 billion of new and existing debt at

Cablevision, cash on hand at Cablevision and $3.3 billion of cash from Altice. BC Partners and CPP Investment Board have an option to participate for up to 30% of the equity of Cablevision. Altice intends to raise equity by issuing Class A shares in connection with funding its portion of the acquisition. Altice has received full financing commitments from JP Morgan, BNP Paribas and Barclays

“We are very excited about our acquisition of Cablevision, which has developed into a pre-eminent cable operator under the steady, long-term ownership of the Dolan Family,” Altice CEO Dexter Goei said in a statement. “This acquisition, our second in the cable sector in the US, is the next step in Altice’s long-term oriented strategy in the US, one of the largest and fastest growing communications markets in the world.”

JP Morgan, BNP Paribas and Barclays acted as financial advisors to Altice. Shearman & Sterling, Covington & Burling, Mayer Brown, Ropes & Gray, De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek and Morris Nichols Arsht & Tunnell acted as legal advisors to Altice.

Given that nothing has come before the FCC, a spokesman declined to comment on the deal, which will get the requisite public-interest review by the agency and an antitrust vetting from Justice.

To the degree that it strengthens Cablevision as a competitor to Comcast, Time Warner Cable (or, if the FCC approves it, Charter-TWC-Bright House Networks) and AT&T-DirecTV, the deal could get a favorable nod.

There is no FCC prohibition on foreign ownership of cable television systems, though there is on CARS stations, the microwave systems used by cable operators.

"The acquisition of Cablevision is a good move for Altice's global media strategy," said Adonis Hoffman, chairman of Business in the Public Interest and former chief of staff to FCC commissioner Mignon Clyburn. "It may also be a good move for U.S. consumers by providing another competitor with scale in the market. Of course, one of the true tests will be how it structures programming.  I would encourage Altice to be very open to independent and diverse programming and content providers, and build in onramps going into the transaction. This would speak volumes to the industry and the regulators on its intention to advance the public interest in programming."

Diversity commitments, usually volunteered by merging parties at the outset, have become a standard element in merger public-interest statements.

“I do not see any regulatory hurdles at this time that would prevent Altice from accomplishing its goal,” Hoffman added. "They will need to run the traps on the Hill, though, where some members might not be as familiar with the company or its ownership."

UPDATE, 11: 45 a.m.: At a press conference after the FCC's monthly meeting, agency chairman Tom Wheeler was asked for his reaction to the proposed deal.

He said he had two reactions. The first was that he had known Chuck Dolan and the Dolan family for decades, and they were "competitors and innovators in the space."

As to the policy issues, he said the commission would take those on in an "open, fast process." Asked about a timeline, he answered, somewhat incredulously, that the deal had only been announced at 2 a.m. the night before and that nothing had yet been filed.

As to whether there were any particular issues with a French (i.e., foreign) company buying Cablevision, Wheeler said a multitude of government agencies involved in national security and telecom — dubbed “team telecom” — reviews all such transactions.

The Team Telecom website offers this description of the organization: "Team Telecom is comprised of staff from the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, representatives from the Department of Commerce, the Department of Defense, the Department of State, the Department of Treasury, and the Office of the United States Trade Representative. Based on its review, Team Telecom may have no comment on any application or may request that the FCC condition grant of the application on compliance with assurances made by the applicant in either an exchange of letters or a formal security agreement."

Such reviews usually take six months to a year, but can take less time. In any event, the FCC cannot act on an application until the review is completed.

Washington bureau chief John Eggerton also contributed to this story.