AT&T; Considers Selling 30 Million Cablevision Shares

AT&T; Corp. is preparing for the possible sale of 30 million shares it owns in Cablevision Systems Corp., AT&T; disclosed Monday.

The company, which is seeking to lower its $46-billion debt load, could raise about $2 billion in such a sale, although it is not clear whether it would sell the shares to the public or to another company.

AT&T; has told Cablevision to register the shares, which represent 17% of Cablevision’s outstanding stock, for the possible sale.

The sale would involve nearly 61% of the 48.9 million Cablevision shares AT&T; owns. AT&T; acquired the stake when it bought Tele-Communications Inc., which had received the shares in a deal involving a swap of cable systems with Cablevision in 1998.

Cablevision, which also is trying to lower its debt load, has said it is unlikely it would be interested in buying the shares.

News of the possible sale depressed shares of the Bethpage, N.Y., company, closing down $1.60, or 2.4%, at $64.50.

AT&T; had said it might sell some or all of its stake to comply with a Federal Communications Commission order related to AT&T;’s acquisition of MediaOne Group. But last month the FCC suspended its deadlines on that order after a federal appeals court rejected the commission’s cap on how many cable subscribers a company can have.

As a result, in an amended filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, AT&T; said it is considering a sale even if it is not required to sell the shares.

AOL Time Warner Inc., whose cable system in the New York metropolitan area is the second-largest behind Cablevision’s, has been mentioned as a possible buyer by Wall Street analysts.