| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Traded as | NASDAQ: CHTR |
| Industry | Telecommunications |
| Founded | 1993 |
| Headquarters | Town and Country, MO, USA |
| Key people | Eric L. Zinterhofer (Chairman) Michael J. Lovett (President and CEO) Richard R. Dykhouse (General Counsel) Don Detampel (EVP and President, Commercial Services) Christopher Winfrey (EVP and CFO) James M. Heneghan (President, Charter Media) Steven E. Apodaca (President, Operations ) |
| Products | Cable television HDTV Digital telephone Broadband |
| Revenue | US$ 6.002 billion (2007)[1] |
| Operating income | US$ 548 million (2007)[1] |
| Net income | US$ −1.616 billion (2007)[1] |
| Total assets | US$ 14.666 billion (2007)[1] |
| Total equity | US$ −7.892 billion (2007)[1] |
| Employees | 16,500 (2007)[1] |
| Website | charter.com |
Charter Communications is an American company providing cable television, high-speed Internet, and telephone services to more than 4.7 million customers in 25 states. By revenues, it is the fourth-largest cable operator in the United States, behind Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Cox Communications.[2] It is headquartered in Town and Country, Missouri.[3][4][5][6]
Contents |
Lite: 3mpbs/384kpbs Express: 15mpbs/3mpbs Plus: 30mpbs/4mpbs Ultra: 100mpbs/5mpbs [7]
Charter Communications incorporated in Delaware in 1993. Through a series of acquisitions as well as internally financed growth, the company served 1 million customers in 1998, 3.9 million in 1999, and 6.8 million in 2002.
Four former executives received criminal indictments in 2005 for accounting fraud related primarily to the inflation of cable subscriber numbers. The company has been under financial pressure; its stock peaked at $27.75 per share in November 1999, before falling to under $1 in 2002.[8] On September 14, 2010 Charter Class A common stock was relisted on NASDAQ under the symbol "CHTR",[9] and as of Dec 1, 2010 the 52 Wk High/ Low is $39.99/$29.10.[10]
In 2006, Charter accelerated sales of cable telephone services using Broadband Telephony technology.
On March 28, 2009, Charter Communications filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Charter emerged from bankruptcy, Nov. 30, 2009.[11]
On May 2, 2006, Charter announced it will shut down seven of its call centers in the United States. The call centers closing are in the following locations:
As centers close, an increasing number of calls are being outsourced. Current outsource centers are located in Cainta, Philippines; Panama City, Panama; Mexico City, Mexico; London, Ontario; Trenton, Ontario; Winnipeg, Manitoba; and Brasília, Brazil.
Orders completed online or through retail partners with Charter Communication are directed to a call center located in Tempe, Arizona, operated by Teletech (Direct Alliance). This call center has inbound/outbound sales agents, as well as online chat agents.
Charter-owned call centers are located in St. Louis, Missouri (telephone service support center); Greenville, South Carolina; Vancouver, Washington; Fond du Lac, Wisconsin; Walker, Michigan; Rochester, Minnesota; Worcester, Massachusetts and Louisville, Kentucky (the largest call center enterprise-wide) with Heathrow, Florida handling the bulk of video, high-speed data, and telephone billing and customer service contacts. Each of the remaining centers are becoming increasingly specialized for particular lines of service or customer issues. In contrast, in the fourth quarter of 2007, Louisville call-center employees, who had been handling callers with Internet issues, were told to prepare for cross-training in video support.
November 1999: Charter went public after more than ten major acquisitions in one year:.[12]
Charter also began swapping customers with other systems to improve the geographic clustering of its systems. In December 1999 it signed a letter of intent with AT&T to swap 1.3 million cable subscribers in St. Louis as well as in Alabama, Georgia, and Missouri.[12]
On March 22, 2006, Charter announced that it would sell cable systems serving approximately 43,000 customers in Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah to Orange Broadband Holding Company (since renamed Baja Broadband).[13]
Charter also sold cable systems in West Virginia and Virginia to Cebridge Connections (now known as Suddenlink Communications) and cable systems in Kentucky and Illinois to New Wave Communications.[14]
On October 14, 2008, an article appeared in the Fairmont, Minnesota Sentinel (Fairmont Sentinel), reporting that Charter is selling parts of their system to Midcontinent Communications, including its Bemidji, Minnesota and International Falls, Minnesota offices. Starting February 1, 2009 Midcontinent Communications took over some Charter's cable system in Minnesota including Balaton, Bemidji, Canby, Ely, Fairmont, International Falls, Littlefork, Sherburn, and surrounding communities. Other areas in Minnesota would have sold to Comcast, but the deal fell through.[15]
On October 22, 2010, announced completion of the sale of cable systems serving approximately 65,000 customers in seven states to Cobridge Communications, LLC. The 36 head ends acquired by Cobridge are located in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Missouri, Ohio and Texas. As a result of this sale, Charter no longer operates in Arkansas and Ohio.[16]
On February 12, 2009, Charter Communications announced that it planned to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on or before April 1, 2009. The action would allow Charter to pay its debt obligations, and cancel its obligations to shareholders.[17] Private equity firm Apollo Management expected to own most of Charter's shares after the bankruptcy.[18] Charter filed for a prearranged bankruptcy on March 28, 2009. The company expects the financial restructuring to reduce its debt by $8 billion, as well as adding $3 billion of new investment, and refinancing other debt. On November 30, 2009, its bankruptcy plan was approved, which extinguished its stock and cut approximately $8 billion in debt.[19] That day, Charter emerged from bankruptcy despite many of its creditors' objections over its bankruptcy plan.[20]
In December 2007, Charter was recognized by CableWorld Magazine as "2007 Multi-System Operator of the Year." According to the magazine, the company was selected for this award based on "rapidly expanding its telephone footprint to take advantage of the triple-play offering; developing a consistent, data-driven marketing plan; and addressing its nearest-term debt maturities."[21] During the spring of 2008, Charter was honored with third place among companies with over 2,000 employees in the annual "Best Places to Work in St. Louis" competition, sponsored by the St. Louis Business Journal., based on the response of Charter employees in the area to an online survey created and managed by the Journal.[22]
Better Business Bureau reports[23]:
"BBB has determined that Charter Communications Inc meets BBB accreditation standards, which include a commitment to make a good faith effort to resolve any consumer complaints."
Charter Communications currently has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau.[23] Though Charter Communications has not always had the best reporting in the past.[24]
PCWorld also ranked Charter's cable Internet service as worst among 14 major Internet service providers.[25] In addition, Charter High-Speed is rated 19 out of 22 cable ISPs on dslreports.com,[26] and Consumer Reports indicated in their February 2008 issue that Charter's television/Internet/telephone bundle collectively is the worst of all major national carriers.[27][28]
It was reported by Tony Bradle on about.com that Charter Communications redirected error pages and Windows Live Search results to a Charter search page without notifying customers. Users may opt out of redirection by clicking a link from the Charter search page; however, the opt-out link installs a cookie on the customer's computer, so deleting cookies will require the user to opt out again.[29]
It has been reported that on Monday, January 21, 2008, during a routine sweep of inactive accounts, Charter accidentally deleted the email accounts of approximately 14,000 customers; even worse, the removed data are now irretrievable. An initial report stated that the company would not compensate users in any way, but the company since decided to give a $50 account credit to each user affected.[30][31] In May 2008, Charter announced that it planned to monitor websites visited by its high-speed Internet customers via a partnership with targeted advertising firm NebuAd.[32][33] After customers voiced their concerns, Charter changed its mind in June.[34]
August 2008, Charter Communications announced an agreement to carry the Big Ten Network, applicable to all customers.[35]
In December 2008, WFAA-TV, the ABC affiliate in Dallas–Fort Worth, reported that beginning January 1, 2009, Charter would no longer carry its signal due to a breakdown in negotiations. Charter quickly replied that a resolution to the issue was not out of the question.[36]
In December 2008, WCNC-TV, the NBC affiliate in Charlotte, North Carolina, reported that as of December 31, 2008 Charter would no longer carry its signal due to a breakdown in negotiations.[37] In December 2008, KMOV-TV Channel 4, the CBS affiliate in Saint Louis, Missouri, reported that it would no longer be available to Charter subscribers starting December 31.[38] Prior to that, only the standard definition signal for KMOV was available on Charter cable.
The cable operator would have lost access to all of the stations owned by Belo Corporation. However, an agreement was reached days before the shutdown date.[39]
In May 2009, Comcast was able to meet an agreement with NFL Network, in which the NFL Network agreed to lower their asking price per subscriber. The higher asking price has been a problem with being carried with other cable networks. Roger Goodell is looking at resolving differences with other cable providers, to include Charter Communications, to allow carriage of this channel.[40]
On August 2011, Charter Communications and NFL Network announced that the two had reached a new, long-term agreement to carry the NFL Network in time for the 2011 season.[41][42]
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