The founder of HBO television, Charles Dolan, has died at the age of 98, reports the BBC. “It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of our beloved father, Charles Dolan, the visionary founder of HBO and Cablevision,” the family said in a statement.
In 1964, Dolan struck a deal with the city of New York to wire some buildings in Manhattan, and a few years later, hoping to attract viewers, he obtained permission to broadcast Knicks and Rangers games.
He then created Home Box Office, a network of pay TV channels that broadcast films. He later sold both his cable service and HBO to build Cablevision, which brought television and internet to households in the northeastern United States.
In 2015, the Dolan family sold Cablevision to European company Altice for almost $18 billion. Until now, the Dolans' son, James, was in charge of the family empire.
According to the New York Times, the Dolans became “the family that New Yorkers loved to hate every now and then.” The perception of media magnates was influenced by frustration with the Knicks' results and the fight for the rights to broadcast certain titles or sports and cultural events.
Forbes estimated Dolan's fortune at $5.4 billion.
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