Charter's chief lays out battle plan
Copyright 2004
CED (2/4/04)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri)
January 31, 2004 Saturday Five Star Late Lift Edition
Charter Communications Inc., the nation's third-largest cable operator, expects to show progress in its efforts to keep customers from defecting to satellite TV when it releases its financial results for last year, says Carl Vogel, its chief executive.
"We have not turned the tide completely," Vogel said Thursday. "We have shown progress all year long." Charter expects to report its results in about a week.
Vogel was in town for an open house at Charter's revamped customer-care center in Town and Country. The center will play a major role in the company's efforts to improve customer service, long a sore point among subscribers here.
Vogel said the recent hiring of several top managers with strong ties to Denver doesn't mean that the cable company is planning to move its headquarters to Colorado. Instead, it reflects a "deep pool of talent" available in Denver as a result of industry consolidation, particularly after Comcast Corp. bought the AT&T Broadband business.
Charter hasn't moved the executives to St. Louis because it wants to conserve resources, Vogel said. The company has about 100 employees in Denver; most are in engineering, marketing and programming, he said.
"St. Louis is the headquarters," Vogel said, with about 1,600 employees. A year ago, Charter had 1,925 employees in St. Louis and 16,900 nationwide.
Vogel said he divides his time between Denver and St. Louis, although he travels frequently to Seattle and New York as well as to Charter systems around the country. Paul Allen, Charter's chairman and largest shareholder, lives in the Seattle area.
"The message we've given people at the corporate level is that you have to get out and get involved with the local systems," Vogel said. "It has been incumbent on all our operating leadership to get out and see our employees."
Charter's focus this year will be on defending its base of digital customers, selling advanced services like high-speed Internet access, video-on-demand and high-definition television, as well as the expansion of telephone service into many markets, including a larger part of the St. Louis area.
Vogel declined to give specifics about how telephone service will be rolled out here until after the company's results are released.
Charter will need more "operating infrastructure" to handle the telephone business, because customers expect near-perfect performance from their telephones, Vogel said. Charter will need more employees answering phones as well as more service technicians when it rolls out the service.
Vogel said Charter continues to look for ways to reduce its $20 billion in debt and increase its cash flow. It remains open to opportunities to sell some cable systems that aren't of strategic importance. |
