Harbinger raises its Cablevision stake. Who cares?

Harbinger Capital Management -- a hedge fund with the inane specialty of taking activist stakes in companies with entrenched managements and dual-class voting structures -- has raised its stake in Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) to 8.1%, according to a 13-D filed with the SEC.

When Harbinger first reported its 4.9% stake, I wrote that "the company's dual-class voting structure means that the Dolan family controls 75% of the voting rights, giving it full control over the board of directors and the company's future. Philip Falcone, the guy who runs Harbinger, can make all the noise and demands he wants, and he might even get a couple seats on a family-controlled board. But any ideas that Falcone has are the equivalent of going up to the CEO in a bar and telling him how he should run the business. Maybe he'll do what you suggest, and maybe he won't. He'll do whatever he wants, and Falcone's stake isn't going to accomplish anything."

Guess what? Owning 8.1% changes absolutely nothing. Collins Stewart analyst Thomas Eagan tells (subscription required) The Wall Street Journal that "They are sending a message that they want to play a role in the direction the company takes."

Great. But that doesn't mean the Dolans will listen. If they wanted to listen to shareholders, they wouldn't have the dual-class voting structure.