NEW YORK — Before Altice USA and its Optimum brand of cable TV services, there was Cablevision Systems, known across Westchester County and Long Island as a MVPD powerhouse that was also parent to the “News 12” local cable news operation.
The man responsible for creating all of it, as well as both Home Box Office and AMC Networks, is now being remembered by both broadcasters and cable TV leaders.
News of Chuck Dolan‘s death emerged on Saturday. He was 98 years old.
In an age where cable television systems largely enjoyed monopolies, Cablevision dominated communities ranging from Chappaqua to Commack, and Dolan paved his own path, eschewing bundling packages for a la carte pricing while bringing fiber optics and broadband internet to customers.
He was also known as the owner of Madison Square Garden Co., and as such a pioneer in regional sports networks, with MSG airing coverage of both the New York Knicks and New York Rangers — storied NBA and NHL franchises Dolan happened to also own.
Dolan’s ownership also extended to Radio City Music Hall, and to Long Island-focused daily newspaper Newsday.
But, he began his career in the 1950s, when cable television was in its embryonic stage. He worked at a tourist-focused cable television network, and with his efforts to bring it to hotels in the City of New York, he discovered that this brought a more stable signal to rooms than an antenna. From there, Dolan started to build Manhattan Cable, which today is part of the Charter Spectrum MVPD. Later, in 1971, he helped give birth to HBO, which was eventually sold to Time-Life. The creation of HBO preceded that of Channel Z by three years, and two years before The Movie Channel; Showtime did not arrive until July 1976.
However, Dolan’s legacy dates to the 1973 combination of small cable TV companies to form Cablevision. Then, in 1976 SportsChannel came to life. In 1980, Rainbow Media Holdings was born under Dolan, with American Movie Classics (AMC) among its holdings.
At age 89, in 2016, Dolan agreed to sell Cablevision to Altice. The price: $17.7 billion.
Forbes magazine estimated the Dolan family’s net worth at $5.2 billion in early 2020.
