Charles Francis "Chuck" Dolan (born October 16, 1926) is an American business executive. He was the founder of HBO and is best known as the owner of Cablevision Systems Corporation, a large cable television operator in the New York City area, which also owns Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, and several sports teams.[1]
[edit] Life and career
Dolan was born in Cleveland, Ohio. The son of an inventor, he served in the U.S. Air Force and studied at John Carroll University before blazing a trail in telecommunications after dropping out of John Carroll. His earliest professional endeavors focused on the packaging, marketing and distribution of sports and industrial films. Working together with his wife in their Cleveland home, Dolan edited and produced short film reels of sports events for syndication to television stations. Selling the business, Dolan joined the acquiring firm and moved east to New York, the center of the developing electronic media world.
In the early 1960s, Dolan established Teleguide Inc., which provided information services via cable to New York City hotels. That same decade, he founded Sterling Manhattan Cable, the first urban cable television company in the nation. In its early years, Sterling forged first-of-its-kind agreements to bring New York professional sports teams, cultural programming and movies into the homes of New York City cable viewers.
In 1972, Dolan founded Home Box Office Inc (HBO) the first premium programming service in the cable television industry. After selling Home Box Office to Time-Life, Inc. (now Time Warner), he organized Cablevision Systems Corporation on Long Island, and has spearheaded many of the company's advancements. In 1986 he took the company public, and since 1992 the stock has risen by 400%. Estimated worth is 2.3 billon dollars.[2]
Dolan is a trustee and honorary alumnus of Fairfield University in Connecticut, and its business school is named for him. He is also a member of the board of governors of St. Francis Hospital[3] in Roslyn, NY.
Dolan and his wife, Helen Ann, reside on Long Island. They have six grown children, three of whom are in management at Cablevision.[4] His son, James L. Dolan, runs the New York Knicks of the NBA and New York Rangers of the NHL.
Dolan has three brothers, Larry Dolan, owner of the Cleveland Indians of the MLB, Bill Dolan, retired and David Dolan who died in a glider plane crash in 1980.
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