The Cablevision founder helped usher in a new era for television. He also acquired sports and entertainment properties including MSG and the New York Knicks.

Charles F. Dolan, the pioneer and businessman who founded HBO in the early 1970s, merged a group of Long Island cable TV systems into Cablevision, and later created the channel AMC, has died. He was 98.

Charles Dolan, a media pioneer who founded Home Box Office Inc. and Cablevision Systems Corp., has died. He was 98. Dolan’s family confirmed in a statement to Newsday that he died of natural causes, surrounded by loved ones.