Billionaire Charles Dolan, a trailblazer in bringing cable television to a large part of the US who created what became HBO, has died at age 98. He was also the head of a family with an "empire" of media and sports properties that includes Madison Square Garden, the New York Knicks and Rangers teams, and AMC Networks. BBC America is a part of AMC.

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.

Dec. 29 (UPI) -- HBO creator and billionaire Charles Dolan has died at the age of 98. A long-time media entrepreneur, Dolan was selling special programming to hotels through his Teleguide service as cable television was beginning to emerge as an entertainment option in rural areas in the 1960s.