Charles Dolan, a media pioneer who founded Home Box Office Inc. and Cablevision Systems Corp., has died. He was 98.
Dolan’s family confirmed in a statement to Newsday that he died of natural causes, surrounded by loved ones.
“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 family’s statement read. “Remembered as both a trailblazer in the television industry and a devoted family man, his legacy will live on.”
Born on Oct. 16, 1926, in Cleveland, Ohio, Dolan served in the U.S. Air Force and studied at John Carroll University before pivoting to telecommunications.
He would later become a leader in the early days of cable broadcasting, launching HBO in 1972. A few years later, in 1973, he founded Cablevision, and then the American Movie Classics television station in 1984. Cablevision’s programming sector later transformed into AMC Networks in 2011.
Dolan also helped launch News 12 in New York City, the country’s first 24-hour cable channel for local news, Newsday reported.
He also held controlling stakes in companies that owned Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, and sports teams such as the New York Knicks and the New York Rangers.
Dolan is survived by six children and 19 grandchildren. His wife, Helen Ann Dolan, died in 2023 at age 96.
Newsday is owned by Dolan’s son, Patrick Dolan, after Cablevision purchased Newsday Media Group in 2008.
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