Charles Dolan, the television innovator who founded Cablevision and HBO, died Saturday. He was 98.
Dolan died of natural causes and was surrounded by loved ones, his family told Newsday. Dolan’s son Patrick owns the outlet.
“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 Dolan family told Newsday.
Dolan’s creative smarts and boundless self-belief led to massive financial success for himself and his family. In 2016, he sold Cablevision for $17.7 billion to European firm Altice. His son James maintains ownership of the New York Knicks, New York Rangers and Madison Square Garden along with the MSG Network.
But it all started in the 1960s when Dolan decided cable television — then only used in rural areas with bad antenna signals — could work in an urban area, specifically New York City. As he was wheeling and dealing to build that network he also developed the idea that would eventually become HBO.
“Here’s a guy who is a very tough businessman,” fellow cable executive Decker Anstrom once said of Dolan. “But if you were to sit next to him at dinner, he is one of the most charming, polite, low key people you’ll ever meet.”
Born Oct. 16, 1926, in Cleveland, Dolan learned his innovation from his father, David. The elder Dolan developed a steering wheel lock for Ford Model Ts that was so effective Ford gave him a wholesale distribution business in 13 states.
But the business suffered when the Great Depression hit and David Dolan died of cancer when Charles was only 16, leaving the son to find his own path. Dolan attended John Carroll University outside Cleveland but he dropped out to start his own business before trading it for a job in New York.
In the big city, Dolan came up with the idea that would turn him into a billionaire. He believed that people would pay extra for cable television if it provided better programming and better signal quality than what was available for free over the air.
After completing the arduous project in south Manhattan, he cut a deal with Madison Square Garden to broadcast the Knicks and Rangers playoff games over cable in 1968. The games were blacked out over the air but Dolan’s operation was so small that he only had to pay $24,000 to show them on cable. It was a huge hit, as New Yorkers jammed into bars to watch the games using Dolan’s new technology.
Around the same time, Dolan developed the idea for HBO on a trip to Europe on the Queen Elizabeth 2. He convinced his business partners at Time Inc. to back the idea and it launched in 1972.
Dolan’s operation was largely successfully and Time exercised its option to buy him out in 1973 but offered Dolan a slice — the portion of the company in Nassau County. Dolan leapt at the opportunity and turned that small slice into Cablevision.
Founded on the back of that deal, Cablevision eventually became one of the largest cable providers in the country. The Dolans cashed out in the Altice deal 43 years later.
James Dolan remains in control of the Garden and its tenant franchises. Charles Dolan’s brother, Larry, did pretty well for himself too and owns the Cleveland Guardians baseball franchise.
Charles Dolan is survived by six children, including James and Patrick, and 19 grandchildren. His wife, Helen, died last year.