Series XI. Community Antenna Television/Sterling Communications Inc. Files

The subseries consist of Charles Dolan's records related to his business dealings involving Sterling Communications and its various subsidiaries . Files include contract drafts and revisions; press releases, clippings, and printed materials; progress reports; briefs and affidavits; meeting summaries; reference materials on Community Antenna Television (CATV) systems in the United States; audit reports and other financial statements; documents from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC); surveys; and proposals.

Correspondence and memoranda deals with a variety of topics and includes negotiations with other companies regarding potential agreements and methods of cooperation; legal action, arbitration, and disputes with companies and individuals; communication with New York Board of Estimates and other city agencies regarding Sterling's cable franchise; advocating to local and state government and their various agencies on behalf of cable; discussion of laws and their implication for cable; problems encountered and progress made in wiring Sterling's franchised area of Manhattan; potential for expansion and challenges ahead; permission to televise sports games; marketing plans; internal managerial questions; and the impact of laws on cable television.

The subseries consists of records dealing with Sterling Communications, Inc. and its various subsidiaries during their years of operation (roughly from 1965-1973), liquidation and disposal of Sterling assets after the company was taken over by Time Inc. in 1973, and the management of Manhattan Cable Television (MCTV) and Home Box Office (HBO) as wholly owned subsidiaries of Time Inc. The files may have originally belonged to a number of Time, Inc. and Sterling officers including Reva Melniker, Secretary of Sterling Communications, Inc; Margaret A. Dore, Secretary of Sterling Communications, Inc; Curtis C. Messinger, Time Inc. Assistant Comptroller; Peter Sheppe, Assistant Secretary of Time Inc; George M. Kaye, Executive Vice President and Treasurer of Sterling Communications, Inc; Edgar P. Smith, Vice President of Time-Life Broadcast, Inc; and Richard Munro, Vice President of Time, Inc.

The records include original and signed copies of contracts and agreements; meeting minutes, annual reports, by-laws, and supplemental materials from Board of Directors meetings; transcripts from stockholders meetings and stockholder lists; budget, audit, progress, and meeting reports; balance sheets, income and expense projections, promissory notes, and other financial statements; forms and documents prepared for submission to local and national government agencies; and brochures, clippings, press releases and other printed materials.

Correspondence and memoranda primarily consists of photo and carbon copies and deals with financial, legal and managerial questions including reorganization of Sterling, legal actions involving stockholders and cable subsidiaries; stock acquisition; proposed investments and proposal discussions; expansion of cable services; televising obscene content, and cable franchise fees.

The subseries consists of Barry Zorthian's records focusing on the subject of Community Antenna Television (CATV); many of the files relate to Sterling Communication cable assets. Records include correspondence; memoranda; reports; balance sheets and other financial statements; minutes from Sterling Information Services, Ltd meetings; materials related to personnel; and clippings and printed materials.

Subjects include advertising and programming on Manhattan Cable Television (MCTV); national communications policy; regulation of cable television; lobbying efforts directed at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the national government on behalf of the CATV industry; analysis of the CATV market; merger possibilities; censorship on the public access channel; correspondence from companies interested in acquiring parts of Time Inc.'s CATV assets or offering their own cable assets for sale; invitations to participate in cable related projects; Time Inc. position on CATV; and cable rate increases.