Cable Pioneer Charles Dolan Dies at 98
The Dolan family said patriarch Charles F. Dolan, who launched HBO, AMC and Cablevision, died Saturday at 98 years old. His vast media empire included Madison Square Garden, the Knicks and the Rangers.
“On behalf of the MSG Family of Companies we mourn the passing of Charles F. Dolan. Mr. Dolan’s vision built the foundation for the companies we are today, and as a member of our Boards he continued to help shape our future. The impact he made on the media, sports, and entertainment industries, including as the founder of Cablevision and HBO, is immeasurable,” said a spokesperson from MSG Entertainment, MSG Sports and Sphere Entertainment. “His life was a testament to the importance of innovation, generosity and hard work, and his legacy will live on in the industries he pioneered, the communities he served, and the memories of those who love him. Our thoughts are with the entire Dolan family and the countless people Mr. Dolan influenced throughout his remarkable life.”
His passing is not expected to directly or indirectly change ownership of the MSG family of companies by the Dolan family.
Dolan created the first urban cable network with Manhattan Cable in the 1960s and launched Home Box Office (HBO) as a way for customers to watch commercial-free movies for an additional charge. HBO and the cable operations were later acquired by Time, Inc. He went on to found Cablevision in 1973, with the cable operator serving 1,500 customers in the Long Island suburbs. When Altice acquired Cablevision in 2016 for $17.7 billion, it had more than 3 million customers in the New York metropolitan area. Under Cablevision, he launched the Rainbow Media Holdings subsidiary that housed networks AMC, IFC and WE tv. It was spun off into a separate company named AMC Networks in 2011. Dolan’s son James Dolan runs Madison Square Garden Entertainment today and is Non-Executive Chairman of AMC Networks, with his wife Kristin Dolan serving as CEO.
“AMC Networks mourns the loss of our founder and long-time chairman, Charles F. Dolan. Mr. Dolan was a visionary, a bold and fearless entrepreneur and, most importantly, a wonderful family man,” the content company said in a statement Sunday. “His dedication and perseverance led him to build companies that profoundly reshaped media and technology. He recognized early on that a television distribution business is only as good as the quality and diversity of programming it offers to viewers. Through Rainbow Media – which later became AMC Networks – he sought to redefine and raise that bar in so many ways as the industry grew and evolved. His visionary spirit will live on through the programming brands and businesses he created and the people who embody the values he held so dear.”