Charles Dolan obit

Charles Dolan, TV pioneer who founded HBO and Cablevision, dies at 98

 

He was not on the list.

TV pioneer Charles F. Dolan, who founded multiple media companies, including Home Box Office Inc. and Cablevision Systems Corp., has died. He was 98.

"It is with deep sorrow that we announce the passing of our beloved father and patriarch, Charles Dolan, the visionary founder of HBO and Cablevision," his family said in a statement to Newsday.

A family spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal he "passed away peacefully from natural causes, surrounded by his loved ones."

"Remembered as both a trailblazer in the television industry and a devoted family man, his legacy will live on," the spokesperson added.

Dolan's legacy in cable TV includes founding Home Box Office, which later became known as HBO, in 1972 and founding Cablevision the following year. He also launched the American Movie Classics television station in 1984.

He was also founder and chairman emeritus of The Lustgarten Foundation in Uniondale, New York, which conducts pancreatic cancer research.

Additionally, he launched News 12 in New York City, the first 24-hour cable channel for local news in the U.S.

Dolan, a Cleveland native whose primary home was in Cove Neck Village on Long Island in New York, also held controlling stakes in companies that owned Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, the New York Knicks and the New York Rangers, according to Newsday.

The cable TV pioneer is survived by six children, 19 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. His wife, Helen Ann Dolan, died last year.

Today, the Dolan family controls Madison Square Garden Sports, MSG Networks, Madison Square Garden Entertainment, Madison Square Garden, the Sphere, Radio City Music Hall, BBC America, and AMC Networks. As of December 2024, his net worth was estimated at US$5.4 billion.

Dolan was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on October 16, 1926, of Irish Catholic descent. His father, David, was an inventor who sold a patent to the Ford Motor Company. He served in the United States Army Air Forces at the end of World War II and studied at John Carroll University, before dropping out and entering the telecommunications field.