Charles Dolan, who helped pioneer pay television, is dead at 98, his family confirms. He founded HBO and Cablevision, among other ventures.

Charles Dolan, a cable pioneer and patriarch of the Dolan media family, died Dec. 28 of natural causes, Newsday reported. He was 98.

Per CNN, Dolan was also a founder and chairman emeritus of The Lustgarten Foundation, which conducts pancreatic cancer research. According to Forbes, Dolan and his family have a net worth of 5.4 billion at the time of his death.

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.

"Sometimes A Great Notion" was the first movie ever shown on HBO, then known as Home Box Office Inc., the premium cable service that would change television forever. It was the brainchild of Charles Dolan.

Charles Dolan, the astute businessman who created HBO in the early 1970s before transforming a small cable TV business on Long Island into a multibillion-dollar entertainment, sports and telecom empire, 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.

Charles Dolan, the billionaire founder of HBO and Cablevision whose family owns Madison Square Garden and AMC Networks, died Saturday from natural causes, the Dolan family announced in a statement. Dolan, 98, died of natural causes while surrounded by loved ones, his family said in a statement to Newsday, an outlet owned by Charles’ son Patrick.

Charles F. Dolan, who founded some of the most prominent U.S. media companies including Home Box Office Inc. and Cablevision Systems Corp., has died at age 98, according to a news report.