Salutes and remembrances have continued for Charles Dolan, a media pioneer who founded HBO and Cablevision, after his death on Saturday.
Dolan, the patriarch of a billionaire media family with considerable holdings in the greater New York area, died at age 98 of natural causes. During his extraordinary decades-long run in media, he helped create the pay-TV era by conceiving of the idea for HBO, building a major cable provider and launching the first regional sports and news networks. His family also went on to gain control of many prized New York City assets, among them the NBA’s Knicks and the NHL’s Rangers and their home arena, Madison Square Garden. Cablevision was sold in 2016 to Altice in a $17.7 billion deal.
In a statement provided to Deadline, AMC Networks (the operator of AMC and other networks, which spun off from Cablevision in 2011 and is still controlled by the Dolans) said it “mourns the loss of our founder and longtime chairman.” Dolan, the statement went on, was “a visionary, a bold and fearless entrepreneur and, most importantly, a wonderful family man. 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.”
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Dolan sold his stake in HBO in 1974 to Time Inc., which would go on to form Time Warner before evolving into current parent company Warner Bros. Discovery.
David Zaslav, CEO of WBD, called Dolan “a visionary creative, an extraordinary business leader and a great friend whose creation of HBO forever changed the quality and prestige of storytelling on television. His impact continues to be felt today at HBO, Warner Bros. Discovery and across our entire industry. He will be deeply missed. We send our condolences to the entire Dolan family.”
Tributes also proliferated online. Ben Tatta, a media executive who spent 10 years at Cablevision, wrote in a LinkedIn post that Dolan’s legacy “is not only etched in the evolution of television but also in the hearts and minds of those who knew him. His lifelong commitment to innovation and family serves as an enduring inspiration. As we mourn his loss, we also celebrate a life that had enormous impact on the world of entertainment and the countless lives he touched.”
Stan Fischler, a Hall of Fame NHL broadcaster who worked at SportsChannel, the trailblazing regional sports network launched by Dolan in the 1970s, hailed the late exec on X. He called him “a gentleman, a scholar, a visionary and – best of all – just a great guy to work for and to know. R.I.P. Boss.”
Dolan and his family became fixtures on Long Island, the suburban redoubt east of New York City where Cablevision was long based. Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman wrote on X that “‘Chuck’ was a hugely successful business leader, philanthropist, veteran, and proud Nassau resident who will be missed dearly.”
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