Charter Communications
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Charter Communications NASDAQ: [CHTR]
After being founded in 1993, a series of acquisitions as well as organic growth allowed its subscriber base to reach 1 million customers in 1998, 3.9 million in 1999, and 6.8 million in 2002 (2.3 million of which were digital cable service subscribers and nearly 750,000 broadband Internet service subscribers).
The company was involved in an accounting fraud in 2000/2001 (relating to the inflation of revenue and operating cash flow and cable subscriber numbers) for which four former executives were convicted in 2005. The company had been under financial pressure following a series of acquisitions; its stock peaked at $27.75 per share in November 1999, before falling to under $1 in 2002.[link]
On March 22, 2006, Charter announced that it will sell cable systems serving approximately 43,000 customers in Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah to Orange Broadband Holding Company, LLC. This is part of Charter's strategy of divesting geographically non-strategic assets.
Charter will also sell cable systems in West Virginia and Virginia to Cebridge Connections (now known as Suddenlink Communications) and cable systems in Kentucky and Illinos to New Wave Communications. [link]
History
- 1993 The company was started by three executives, two of them are Jerald Kent and Howard Wood, former employees of Cencom Cable in St. Louis
- 1994 Charter paid about $900 million for a controlling interest in Crown Media
- 1997 EarthLink and Charter join forces to deliver high-speed Internet access through cable modems to Charter's customers in California.
- 1998 Paul Allen buys a controlling interest
- 1998 Charter paid $2.8 billion to acquire Dallas cable company Marcus Communications
- 1998 the SEC investigates a buying binge by the company which leads to the indictment of four former executives for improper financial reporting
- 1999 Company goes public, trading on the NASDAQ stock exchange
- 2000 Charter Buys select AT&T cable markets, including Reno, NV
- 2001 MSN and Charter sign an agreement to offer MSN content and services to Charter’s broadband customers.
- 2001 Recipient of many awards including the Outstanding Corporate Growth Award from the Association for Corporate Growth, the R.E. "Ted" Turner Innovator of the Year Award from the Southern Cable Telecommunications Association, and the Fast 50 Award for Growth from the St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association
- 2004 Charter settles a class action lawsuit concerning the questionable financial reporting
- 2005 Company joins HANA, the High Definition Audio-Video Network Alliance to help establish standards in consumer electronics interoperability
Call Centers
On May 2, 2006, Charter announced that it will close down 7 of its Customer Care call centers in the US. This will not affect customers, as the call centers that are remaining open will take on the additional call flow from these closing centers as one "virtualized" call center.The call centers closing are
- St. Louis Video Customer Care Center (July 31, 2006)
- Bay City, Michigan (tentatively September 2006)
- Birmingham, Alabama (tentatively December 2006)
- Ft. Worth, Texas (tentatively December 2006)
- Irwindale, California (tentatively December 2006)
- Newtown, Connecticut (tentatively March 2007)
- Kingsport, Tennessee (tentatively March 2007)
Trivia
- Charter Champ is the term used for technicians of distinction at the HSI Data Contact Center located in Louisville, Kentucky. To achieve this distinction, a technician must achieve one of the top 10 scorecards in the center, weighted on Average Handle Time, Orders Per Call, Quality Assurance, and Compliance. The maximum score is a 5.25, with many Charter Champ technicians scoring 5.0 or better.
External links
- [Charter.com - Charter Communications]
- [Charter.net - For Charter High-Speed customers]
- Associated Press, April 23, 2005, ["Charter Communications executives sentenced in accounting schemes"]
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