Cable valuations look "challenging:" Rattner

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Cable TV stocks, after surging in 2006, now look on the pricey side, media investor and former cable company board member Steven Rattner told the Reuters Private Equity and Hedge Funds Summit on Wednesday.

"It's been our single-largest sector of investment over the years, but there are times in which the valuations are attractive and there are times when the valuations are challenging," said Rattner, managing principal at the Quadrangle Group, which he said invests in media and telecommunications companies and manages more than $6 billion in assets.

"Right now the valuations are probably closer to challenging than attractive," he said.

Rattner's experience in the cable business includes serving on Cablevision Systems Corp.'s (CVC.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) board. He was ousted by Cablevision Chairman Charles Dolan in 2005 after Rattner voted against funding the company's Voom satellite business.

Quadrangle has also invested in other cable operators, including Bresnan Communications, which serves customers in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Utah, according to the Quadrangle Web site.

"The market falls in and out of love with cable regularly, and I'm sure it will again," he said. "We think the business is wonderful, and we'll have other opportunities."