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Charter Owns 20% Of Cable Industry's Debt
But serves just 8% of all cable customers...
by Karl Bode Saturday 20-Dec-2008 tags: business · cable · trouble · Charter
Tipped by AMDUSER See Profile
Earlier this week we noted that Moody's had downgraded Charter, while stating that default is imminent and bankruptcy is likely for Charter in 2009. Light Reading meanwhile notes that while Charter serves less than eight percent of the nation's cable customers, it currently owns twenty percent of the entire cable industry's debt load. So far, experts are claiming that Charter customers may not be impacted by a Charter re-organization, though many may be on networks that Charter chooses to sell off (which, depending who buys you, could be a good thing). One user directs our attention to the fact that Charter is selling 26 small market networks in Minnesota.

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gower23528

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.
raIDERspeed

join:2002-07-26
Soledad, CA

1 edit

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.

SilenceGold
Premium
join:2003-07-31
Canyon Lake, TX
Hopefully that happens to Saline County in Arkansas too.
Squidii

join:2004-06-30
Little Rock, AR
Reviews:
·Cobridge Communi..

Re: charter

said by SilenceGold:

Hopefully that happens to Saline County in Arkansas too.
I read the story and thought the same thing. Come on comcast, you know you want Saline county. They could pickup Maumelle while they are at it too.
thatguy5245

join:2004-05-25
Dunbar, WV
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.

atuarre
Here come the drums
Premium
join:2004-02-14
College Station, TX

RE

Just pray to the telecom gods that you don't get sold off to Communicom!

n2jtx

join:2001-01-13
Glen Head, NY
Reviews:
·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.
--
I support the right to keep and arm bears.
Zach 58
Premium
join:2006-11-26
NW Minnesota

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?
patcat88

join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY
kudos:1

Re: Bailout

said by Zach 58:

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.

KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
Reviews:
·AT&T DSL Service
said by Zach 58:

So sad but so true. I wonder what plan 'B' will entail when the value of the currency tanks?
If you haven't paid attention to what the US dollar has done in the last few years.... well, we're way past Plan B. It's more like Plan N.
--
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power." -- Benito Mussolini
Zach 58
Premium
join:2006-11-26
NW Minnesota

Re: Bailout

said by KrK:

said by Zach 58:

So sad but so true. I wonder what plan 'B' will entail when the value of the currency tanks?
If you haven't paid attention to what the US dollar has done in the last few years.... well, we're way past Plan B. It's more like Plan N.
Agreed...I was attempting to be optimistic.
k1ll3rdr4g0n

join:2005-03-19
Homer Glen, IL
said by KrK:

said by Zach 58:

So sad but so true. I wonder what plan 'B' will entail when the value of the currency tanks?
If you haven't paid attention to what the US dollar has done in the last few years.... well, we're way past Plan B. It's more like Plan N.
Plan N? Wasn't that baling out the stock market?
I think we are up to Plan "oh were so screwed".

With all these bailouts, especially the automotive industry (maybe), I am thinking about requesting one also! Because if they get one, then it seems like anyone can get one .

Romney2012
Defeat Obama 2012-Chg we can believe in
Premium
join:2002-03-03
USA
kudos:4

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
--
My BLOG .. .. Internet News .. .. My Web Page
Ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya punk?

AMDUSER
Premium
join:2003-05-28
Earth
kudos:1
Reviews:
·RoadRunner Cable

1 edit

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.
Lazlow

join:2006-08-07
Saint Louis, MO

Re: Allen used OPM and overpaid building Charter

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.

AMDUSER
Premium
join:2003-05-28
Earth
kudos:1
Reviews:
·RoadRunner Cable

1 edit

Re: Allen used OPM and overpaid building Charter

Direct from Paul Allens website:
»www.paulallen.com/Template.aspx?contentId=2
-Diego Interactive: »www.paulallen.com/Template.aspx?contentId=15

See page 14 of this Charter 2007 annual report:
»library.corporate-ir.net/library···2007.pdf

(This file is about 1.6 meg..)

It shows on the organizational map of Charter, how Paul Allen directly controls Charter Communications Inc. (Which is the 'Manager' of Charter, and thereby directly controls its subsidiaries. Paul Allen also managed to 'co-mingle' some of his assets with Charter... ie CC VIII LLC , there is others as well.

Take a look at the right side of the map of Paul Allen and controlled entities.
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!

jeffro

join:2007-04-20
Bay City, MI

Re: Buckeye CableSyatem

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.
hottboiinnc
ME

join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH
Reviews:
·WOW Internet and..

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

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.
--
The Internet is about to go down....it is actually.

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.
Lazlow

join:2006-08-07
Saint Louis, MO

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).

AMDUSER
Premium
join:2003-05-28
Earth
kudos:1

Re: Charter OWES 20% of the debt..

That is likely, the end result of which banks could be them calling in the loans due to debt covenants.
»www.multichannel.com/article/CA6546109.html
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.

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.

imakeholsinu

join:2008-01-24
Saint Louis, MO

Local channels jumping ship.

I guess that's why they are now dropping locals in the Saint Louis Area. CBS/KMOV 4 is going to drop soon.
Lazlow

join:2006-08-07
Saint Louis, MO

Re: Local channels jumping ship.

No, that is becuase they are asking for a Butt load of money for their channel. The company that owns KMOV has done this with a lot of cable companies all over the US.

westsacguy

@comcast.net

Charter now Wave Broadband in West Sacramento

I hope Charter goes under and the remaining of their markets get sold to other providers. Earlier this year Charter sold their franchise in West Sacramento to Wave Broadband, which was a HUGE benefit to us. In a few months after the transition, we finally got On Demand, Digital Phone, and the premium HSI tier was upgraded to 10 megs, and All Digital Simulcast was launched too. Since Charter only services West Sacramento, Comcast served the remainder of Sacramento and northern California and now at least Wave Broadband actually competes with Comcast now in terms of features.

TPoise
.NET Superstar

join:2006-07-03
united state

This Company Needs To Fail!

No Charter will get a bailout. I mean never mind if a company is actually producing a high-demand product (Verizon and FIOS), but don't you know that all bailout money only goes to the companies that are "too large to fail" and have been soooo responsible in their spending thus far?

If there was a company that is the poster child for needing to fail, it would be Charter.
Mordhem
Love it, Hate it.

join:2003-07-10
Baltimore, MD

I am praying they sell to comcast :) Id be happy

I would be so happy if they sold off to comcast so I can go back to work for them, I cant stand charter there internet is great but every thing else is overpriced and poor.

But I just moved to south Carolina so its my first time dealing with them I wanted to work for them until I heard they payed 8-12$ and hour for a tech...........

I would not even want to replace the boxes for that price. But I now understand why so many have problems with the charter techs. May be if they payed a real competing wage..

Hell another thing this would open up is for real. Sub contracting company's like ACI, Vitel communications and others not the have your own truck and have a job contractors.
--
Being Corporate is not a bad thing, its a matter of who you work for & how much they value you! I would not have it any other way!

xmguy21

@charter.com

Re: I am praying they sell to comcast :) Id be happy

I'm in east middle TN. Charter is the only one (cable) here. Comcast (aka Comcrap) is in Nashville, about 75 miles from me. I just hope Charter doesn't sell out to them! They suck royally!

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