Charter going bankrupt?

[Invader3K]

I know there's a few other Charter subscribers on this board, other than myself, so I thought some would be interested in this:

 

http://atlanta.bizjournal...02/daily33.html?ana=yfcpc

"Charter Communications is preparing to file bankruptcy, Reuters reported recently. The timing of a possible bankruptcy filing is not known and there is a possibility the company could negotiate a "prepackaged" bankruptcy with bondholders, unnamed sources told the news agency."

Makes you wonder what will ultimately happen if they do file. Will they possibly be sold?

 

[craigharmann]

If they're sold, maybe it will lead to better customer service. I used to have Charter and they were awful.

[bjkrautk]

::ficticiously looks at my cable/internet bill::

 

How is this even possible?

 

In truth, I know that the rise of video streaming online & satellite competition has probably contributed to Charter (and nearly every other cable company) losing market share. Their tendency to charge monopolistic prices only enhance the problem.

[ManOfTheBeer]

My Charter internet bill per month has increased 200% over the last two years. I say good riddance to the jackals.

[Nottso]

I dislike them greatly, but I'm stuck with 'em if I want decent internet speed. I eagerly await the day that fiber optic is available out here in the boonies.

[DuWayne Steurer]

Where I'm located, I'm getting 5 M from Charter for $29.99, and the next best thing that's available where I'm at (and I've researched thoroughly) is 1.5 M for 29.99 the first 6 months and 39.99 after.

 

The digital cable sucks, it pixelates ALL the time, and especially on FSN during Brewer games, but I'm not inclined to make a switch at this time.

 

All I can say is that I'm in a position where I have a pretty good working knowledge of Dish customer service, and I won't go that route.

[bthurley19]

I say good riddance as well, it seems every couple of weeks we are losing service for periods of time and every time you call to get someone to look at it their customer is terrible.

 

I believe the question was already asked but what happens to them now, do they just fade away and another cable company services the areas that Charter has or what? Is there examples of other large cable companies having this happen, I can't think of any.

[Gobias Industries]

Another poorly run company bites the dust.

 

Hopefully U-Verse will come out to my area now.

[Invader3K]

Well, the most obvious route would be that Time Warner or some other cable company will buy them out, or at least buy out obvious areas like here in Wisconsin where they already provide service.

 

I honestly can't complain about Charter much...I wish they would add more HD channels (basically all I watch now if I can help it), but other than that, I've had no problems with their products. Yeah, our bill is probably a bit high, but we get all their digital and HD channels, their DVR (which actually isn't bad now), high speed (10 meg) internet, and phone (which I need for my business). I think since we've been in this house, almost three years now, we've maybe had one or possibly two short outages.

[sgtcluels]

This is not good, we have business class service from there guys. And since the location isn't super awesome, we are pretty much stuck with them or leased lines which will increase the costs 4 fold.

[BREWCREW5]

Charter sucks. There customer service is horrible and if you watch your bill, it probably goes up a couple of dollars every month. That is one thing about tough economic times...it weeds out companies like that (not to say good companies cant go down either).

[Tailgat0r76]

Thanks a walking-salesman up here in la crosse, my roomates and I have got an absolutely crazy deal on our Charter, so I've got to say I would be disappointed if they were to go under. We get digital cable, showtime, starz, HBO, all sports channels like espnu, espnnews, cbssports, as well as the second-tier internet for $59 a month; would hate to lose out on that deal.

[Invader3K]

Our bill from Charter actually went _down_ a couple bucks per month, as of two or three months ago. I forget why, but Charter sent us a letter saying they were adjusting the rate on something (I don't remember what it was). Our bill has remained pretty much the same as we are "locked" into a promotional rate.

[packfan79]

Having worked for Charter and had there service I will say that the HD quality was better with Charter and the internet speed was priced better then Uverse. I am moving to a new house and got a pretty good deal so I am wondering what will happen if Time Warner takes them over.

[Blancofan1]

I had Charter for about 2 years in Wausau and can say that it's not really any better or worse than Time Warner from a customer service standpoint. The one thing that I miss about Charter was their actual Moxi box DVR. Never had a problem with it and it had much better features than any one of the boxes that I've had from Time Warner that for some reason I need to trade in about once every nine months to stop getting the 'channel currently not available' message

[Godspeed]

The one thing that I miss about Charter was their actual Moxi box DVR

 

Oh man that box is to die for! Better than Tivo. Going from that to the piece of crap TW carries was a major letdown. TW's DVR was so clunky I didn't even think it was worth the $10 monthly fee so I got rid of it.