Charles Dolan, the cable television pioneer who founded HBO and Cablevision and acquired Madison Square Garden and its associated businesses, has died at the age of 98. His family announced his passing on Saturday, citing natural causes as the reason. “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,” the statement read.
Dolan’s impact on cable broadcasting is undeniable. He launched Home Box Office (HBO) in 1972, founded Cablevision in 1973, and established American Movie Classics in 1984. He also spearheaded the creation of News 12 in New York City, the nation’s first 24-hour local news cable channel. Thomas Maier, in a Newsday appreciation, highlighted Dolan’s “lasting legacy in the power of ideas that helped transform television, the defining medium of our age, and the American society it reflected.”
A Cleveland native who left John Carroll University, Dolan sold Cablevision to Altice, a European telecommunications company, for $17.7 billion in June 2016. He resided primarily in Cove Neck Village on Long Island and maintained controlling interests in companies owning Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, the New York Knicks, and the New York Rangers. His son, James L. Dolan, served as Cablevision CEO from 1995 until the 2016 sale and currently leads Madison Square Garden Sports Corp. Another son, Patrick Dolan, later reacquired Newsday, which Cablevision had purchased in 2008.
At the time of his death, Charles Dolan and his family had a net worth of $5.4 billion, according to Forbes. He was a founder and chairman emeritus of The Lustgarten Foundation, dedicated to pancreatic cancer research. He is survived by six children, nineteen grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. His wife, Helen Ann Dolan, predeceased him in 2023.