Cablevision Systems Corporation (NYSE:CVC) shares jumped $2.72, or 8.33%, to $35.39 today after the company agreed to be taken private by the founding Dolan family for about $10.6 billion. We first mentioned the possibility of a raised bid back in early April, where we also suggested other possible targets. The current $36.26 per share offer was an 11% premium to Tuesday's closing price and a 52% premium to Cablevision's price before Dolan's first bid. The board had rejected the family's past bids for the company, that came in at around $21 per share initially, since 2005. The board finally accepted today's bid after careful deliberation with the family.

Now that the heavy investment spending by many of these large cable companies to lay down the groundwork is completed, there is simply strong cash flows remaining for the coming years as their spending declines. This trend led to the buyout of Cox Communications and Insight Communications, which have both recently been taking private by private equity firms and controlling shareholders. Many analysts expect these trends to continue before the valuations of cable companies rise high enough to prohibit such takeovers. And given the multiples we are seeing today, this could be awhile. Two companies to keep an eye on are RCN Corporation (RCNI) and Knology (KNOL), which are both smaller cable operators that have a strong niche presence in their respective markets.

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