gower2352
join:2005-06-08
Weston, WV | charter
Charter sold off our area to a rural cable company and at the very least they were able to bring us high speed internet which Charter never did. |
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atuarre
Here come the drums
Premium
join:2004-02-14
Lake Charles, LA
clubs:  | RE
Just pray to the telecom gods that you don't get sold off to Communicom! |
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n2jtx
join:2001-01-13
Glen Head, NY
 ·Optimum Online
| Bailout
All they need to do is apply to Congress for a bailout, asserting bad economic conditions, and they will be solvent again. Simple! The government will print all the money they need.
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I support the right to keep and arm bears. |
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TKJunkMail
Enjoy the sun
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Avalon, NJ
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·Comcast
|  Allen used OPM and overpaid building Charter
Charter, of course, is controlled by Microsoft Corp.-made billionaire Paul Allen. He assembled Charter during a run of MSO acquisitions in the late 1990s, seeing the company as the centerpiece for his "wired world" strategy. While Allen owns only about 51 percent of Charter, he controls 90 percent of its voting power. Allen built his little empire mostly using Other People's Money. He acquired franchises thru purchases using debt(mostly not his own) and he overpaid for them during the high tech bubble of the late 90's.
Read up on "leveraged buyout" to understand how Allen got control while sticking the bondholders with all the risk:
»www.investopedia.com/terms/l/lev···viewed=1
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My BLOG .. .. Internet News .. .. My Web Page
Ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya punk? |
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raIDERspeed
join:2002-07-26
Soledad, CA
1 edit | reply to gower2352
Re: charter
5 years ago chater install all new lines for high speed still don't have anything ATT beat them to punch with DSL. |
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hottboiinnc
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH | Buckeye CableSyatem
Well if they sell the Monroe Network they can sell that to Buckeye CableSystem and give ATT more of a run for their money.
Go Buckeye! |
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jeffro
join:2007-04-20
Holland, MI | Here in my city we have comcast areas and charter areas. Hopefully they'll sell to them. At least they have the NBA League Pass and more HD channels. Only downside would be a capped internet but I think I can deal with that. |
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Hpower
Roflmao
join:2000-06-08
Glendale, CA | Charter sucks anyway...
And here comes another bailout. One of the millions to follow to fix this damn economy.
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The Internet is about to go down....it is actually. |
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BankerX
@mdsg-pacwest.com | Charter OWES 20% of the debt..
If they owned it, there'd be little problem. Unless that debt is going bad, like mortgage backed bonds.
In the same sense, more Americans are home-owers, rather than home-owners. |
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Arctic nut
join:2006-11-26
Thief River Falls, MN
 ·HughesNet Satellit..
·Alltel Axess
| reply to n2jtx
Re: Bailout
said by n2jtx  :All they need to do is apply to Congress for a bailout, asserting bad economic conditions, and they will be solvent again. Simple! The government will print all the money they need. So sad but so true. I wonder what plan 'B' will entail when the value of the currency tanks? |
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SilenceGold
Premium
join:2003-07-31
Benton, AR | reply to gower2352
Re: charter
Hopefully that happens to Saline County in Arkansas too. |
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patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY
| reply to Arctic nut
Re: Bailout
said by Arctic nut :I wonder what plan 'B' will entail when the value of the currency tanks? Super power currencies can't tank, only 1 country wide currencys can. |
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AMDUSER
Premium
join:2003-05-28
Earth
clubs:
·RoadRunner Cable
1 edit | reply to TKJunkMail
Re: Allen used OPM and overpaid building Charter
The other part about it is Piercing the Corporate Veil:
»www.expertlaw.com/library/busine···l.html#1
In other words, since Paul Allen personally, (and through related entities effectively controls Charter. 90% of Voting stock; as well as being the Chairman.) He could possibly be made to pay the bondholders, considering they may pursue him since he personally had to approve of the borrowing. Paul Allen should have realised that the debt could cause a significant problem for the company, and they could go after him for gross negligence,or breach of fiduciary duty if the company fails because he literally controls the company and could cause / contribute for it to take actions it otherwise would or would not, like borrowings, or contracting with Paul Allen related companies eg.. Diego Interactive.
This could get intresting, because it could literally cost Paul Allen about $5-6 billion, which is the difference between what the company owes and the value of its assets.
Fiduciary duty
»definitions.uslegal.com/b/breach···ry-duty/
In his case, acting for his own benifit, see above Diego Interactive. |
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Lazlow
join:2006-08-07
Saint Louis, MO
| AMD
While I believe that Allen does control the company, do you have any links to those related entities (and his control of them)? I think one would have to prove that(which I suspect will be difficult) before you could go after him. I still wonder if this is not just a cheap way for him to take the company private. If he could dump the majority of the debt and take the company(intact) private, he would be way ahead of the game. |
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Lazlow
join:2006-08-07
Saint Louis, MO | reply to BankerX
Re: Charter OWES 20% of the debt..
If they get delisted(which is likely unless something changes) that will probably violate the terms of their loans(a common requirement for large companies). |
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hottboiinnc
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH
·Time Warner Cable
·buckeye cable
| reply to jeffro
Re: Buckeye CableSyatem
Comcast can't really buy any more areas until they get the Courts to overturn Martin's cap on how many customers they can have. If you want uncapped Internet you want Buckeye. 20/1 unlimited no caps. And preparing to offer more with DOCSIS 3.
www.buckeyecablesystem.com |
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GrantGevens
join:2000-03-16
Knoxville, TN
| Not surprised....
I've had some awful Charter experiences and my options for alternate service (trust me) are limited. My most recent experience is the following and serves as an allegory of the cause of their demise:
1. Wife wants a dvr not the regular cable box
2. I explain that this will be an arduous task fraught with Kafkaesque misery.
3. Wife persists and after a few months she wins.
4. Call Charter and order a dvr.
5. Appointment made.
6. Day of appt with ten minutes left before they are late they call and state they have NO DVRs to install.
7. I call 1-888-GET-CHARTER and they say that they are showing dvr products available at my local office. Are you sure? Yes, just go pick one up.
8. Drive to local office which I CANNOT CALL DIRECTLY BECAUSE THEY HAVE NO NUMBER AVAILABLE TO CALL.
9. I arrive. "You're going to be mad but we don't have any dvr's but we'll call you when one shows up"
10. No dvr
11. Automated call confirming a repeat appt that I never set up. I call and cancel.
12. Automated call confirming a second appt that I never set up. Wife calls the national number and gets a rep. We're showing you have dvrs locally go pick one up. She asks them to call the local office and confirm this likely bogus info. "We can't."
13. Wife goes out shopping and decides to drop by. They don't have any dvrs. They say that since we came by earlier we are probably on a list since we left our contact info. He checks. There is no record and no one would ever know to call and let us know dvrs are in. Wife leaves frusrated. Guy calls thirty minutes later and says that dvrs have come in while she had been there. Come pick one up.
14. We have a dvr.
15. I await the inevitable task now of resolving all kinds of weird charges and service changes on our bill that we did not authorize but traditionally occur whenever we do anything at all to alter our Charter service.
16. Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah and Happy Holidays to all.
This company should cease to exist. Someone remotely intelligent please buy them. |
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TooLazy2Register
@charter.com
| I hope Charter stays afloat
I'd rather not see Charter fail/get bought out by somebody else. Sure, my speeds go down from 10 Mbits to 5 Mbits during peak hours but all the other times they are not so bad. And they have no caps - a huge plus in my mind (I am a great Usenet fan). Obviously Charter is no FiOS (I've had them before I had to move) but there are plenty other much worse ISPs that could make our internet experience miserable if they take over Charter. |
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thatguy5245
join:2004-05-25
Dunbar, WV
 ·PHONE POWER
·Suddenlink
| reply to gower2352
Re: charter
Charter did bring us HSI (at least in the Charleston Area) since at least 99 which is when I got here.
Their customer service while bad was tons better than the company they sold to, Suddenlink. Whoops I meant SuddenStink: Suddenly Disconnected. |
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