The move by the Dolan family to take private the cable company it controls, Cablevision Systems, could put the company in play.

Potential acquirers of the nation’s sixth-largest cable company would face a major stumbling block: approval from the Dolan family, which owns a 71% voting stake in the company.

In a letter sent to the board Sunday unveiling their plan, Charles Dolan, Cablevision’s chairman, and James Dolan, his son and chief executive, said, “You should be aware that we are interested only in pursuing the proposed transaction and will not sell our stake in the company.”

But that may not rule out a sale down the road.

“We think the Dolans are taking the company private with the intent of selling it to Time Warner Cable or Comcast, once (the two cable giants) have finished integrating Adelphia,” Todd Mitchell, an analyst at Kaufman Brothers, said in a research note.

Cablevision would be particularly attractive to Time Warner, parent company of the second-largest cable operator in America, and to Comcast, the no. 1 cable operator, “given its demographically attractive footprint and the location of its systems,” which are next to the cable systems of both Time Warner and Comcast, Goldman Sachs & Company said in a research report.

Cablevision’s entertainment assets, which under the plan would be spun off into a separate publicly traded company, could attract separate bids.

Considered among the potential bidders are Liberty Media, Time Warner, Comcast, News Corporation, and Viacom.

Cablevision shares rose 19.2%, or $5.15, to $32.03 yesterday.