After his company won approval of its bankruptcy plan this week, Charter Communications CEO Neil Smit tells Bloomberg that upon exiting from bankruptcy, the company will raise prices and consider consumption-based billing. Charter Communications hasn't been profitable since the company went public in 1999, posted a $2.45 billion loss last year, constantly ranks at the bottom of most customer satisfaction surveys, is swimming in debt, and was just forced into bankruptcy and reorganization. Of course these problems were caused by poor management, not flat-rate broadband pricing -- a model that's been perfectly profitable for most ISPs. Despite Charter's constant failings, Smit himself was paid $7.4 million in cash compensation for 2008, and remains one of the highest paid executives in St. Louis. Perhaps he'll volunteer a fresh pay cut in addition to socking his customers with higher prices? For the team?

With the cable company he founded currently struggling through bankruptcy, Charter Communications founder and Chairman now finds himself facing a much more serious and difficult task: beating back cancer a second time. Allen, who already fought and beat cancer some twenty five years ago, is now facing non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, according to The Seattle Times. "For those who know Paul's story, you know he beat Hodgkin's a little more than 25 years ago and he is optimistic he can beat this, too," says Allen's sister Jody Allen. Allen spent much of the summer battling with creditors, who didn't like Allen's efforts to retain control of the company after restructuring. The restructuring is supposed to eliminate about $8 billion of the company's $21.7 billion in debt.

Bankrupt Charter Communications Is joining the seasonal cable rate hike festivities, the Oregonian reporting that the company is raising rates in Oregon for some of the customers who can least afford it. Meanwhile, the San Gabriel Valley Tribune (California) reports how Charter is eliminating discounts for senior citizens in the region, raising bills as high as 26%.

Back in January, bankrupt Charter Communications launched faster DOCSIS 60Mbps/5Mbps service, but only in St. Louis. Given Charter's bankruptcy (which they should be emerging from in a few weeks), it's not too surprising that the year was devoid of any additional launches -- until now. According to Charter, they're now launching the faster service in Victorville, California for $139.99 standalone, or $129.99 when bundled with an additional service. Not too surprisingly -- Charter sees competition from Verizon FiOS in Victorville, and is trying (albeit feebly with the cash on hand) to upgrade FiOS markets first.

Just a day after a court approved an extension of Charter's deadline for emerging from bankruptcy, a Judge approved Charter's new reorganization plan. In short, that means Charter could emerge from bankruptcy in just a few weeks, despite all of the fighting between Charter, founder Paul Allen, and the company's lenders.

Charter's latest deadline to exit from bankruptcy was yesterday, but Charter Communications filed an amended restructuring agreement in Manhattan court yesterday that extended the deadline to November 2 -- or December 15 if the company hasn't received regulatory approval. Charter filed for bankruptcy back in March in order to shed less than half of their $21.7 billion in debt, promising at the time the reorganization would take just months. But JPMorgan and other lenders have fought the plan in court, calling it an "illegitimate scheme" to force senior lenders to finance a takeover of the company by Apollo Management, Crestview LLC, Oaktree Capital Group Holdings GP and Franklin Resources Inc.

Charter's been having a problem with people stealing cable at two apartment buildings in Michigan. Their solution, according to the Kalamazoo Gazette? Terminate service to the entire 400-unit apartment complex.

For years we've explored how many consumers are anywhere from a few miles to a few feet away from getting cable broadband service. Our forums are filled with tales from users who say getting their carrier to extend service that extra distance can be painfully expensive -- as in $25,000 for just a few hundred feet. The Cleveland Daily Banner (via Stop The Cap) explores how five relatively affluent development dwellers in Tennessee (including a former State Senator) are trying to get Charter to run coaxial cable an extra few miles to their development. Bankrupt Charter says the 36-48 months needed to see a return on the necessary $130,000 investment isn't a deal they'd do, but they are willing to run the cable if each person in the 55 home development is willing to pay $1,850.

According to Charter reps on Twitter and the company's website, bankrupt-cable operator Charter plans to launch Powerboost technology on October 15. Powerboost, first copyrighted and offered by Comcast back in 2006, gives users a sometime double digit speed boost during the first few moments of a large download (or upload, if your carrier has deployed it on the upstream side).

Charter founder Paul Allen got a stern talking to yesterday in a Manhattan bankrupcty court. According to the New York Post, US Bankruptcy Court Judge James Peck asked Allen's personal financial rep if it "appears somewhat unseemly for a person as wealthy as Allen" to be benefiting financially from the cable operator's bankruptcy plan. Charter's restructuring calls for Allen to be paid around $200 million and is tailored specifically to lessen Paul Allen's personal tax burden. Despite the fact that Charter has never been profitable and suffers from some of the worst customer support in the business, company CEO Neil Smit has also had a very profitable implosion.

Bankrupt cable operator Charter Communications issued their second quarter earnings this morning, which indicate the cable operator trim its losses to $112 million on the quarter, improving on losses of $274 million one year ago. The company lost 73,300 basic video customers and the quarter, but while many cable operators balance this by gains in digital customers, Charter's digital TV subscribers also declined by 5,700. The company did end up adding 10,600 broadband and 56,900 VoIP subscribers. The company currently serves 4,929,900 TV (3,152,000 of which are digital video), 2,957,700 HSI, and 1,480,000 telephone customers.

Before Charter stumbled into what's been a fairly complicated and disagreeable bankruptcy, the company tried -- and failed -- to sell itself, according to one company adviser. Charter's significant debt load made the company particularly unattractive as the credit market began to tighten. Charter's bankruptcy and reorganization aims to eliminate $8 billion in debt, though creditors have balked at the plan because the final plan would reinstate about $11 billion of its senior bank debt at below-market interest rates -- while Paul Allen would retain some control of the final operation.

Charter continues to fight with creditors as the company attempts to get a Judge to sign off of the struggling cable company's re-organization and bankruptcy plan. According to Reuters, a number of lenders say Charter's plan is full of "gimmicks" and violates the bankruptcy code. The plan, if approved, would remove about $8 billion in debt from Charter's books, while reinstating about $11 billion of its senior bank debt at below-market interest rates once the carrier emerges from bankruptcy. Lenders claim Charter's using sophisticated trickery so that Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen will still retain some form of control after re-structuring.

Ok, sure, Charter Communications hasn't been profitable since the company went public in 1999, posted a $2.45 billion loss last year, constantly ranks at the bottom of most customer satisfaction surveys, is swimming in debt, and was just forced into bankruptcy and reorganization -- but at least they pay their CEO well. According to the St.

As Charter lurches their way through bankruptcy and reorganization, the road hasn't been an easy one, with creditors suing the carrier and claiming their reorganization plan "may not be feasible." Field technicians also recently sued the cable operator for back pay, and now an investor has sued the company, claiming founder Paul Allen and two other executives have committed securities fraud. Charter apparently had enough extra remaining legal resources to recently sue DirecTV for ads claiming that the bankrupt carrier was going under, and that customers should flee to a new provider.

Charter Communications sued DirecTV earlier this week for false advertising, claiming that DirecTV ads urging customers to flee Charter due to their bankruptcy and reorganization infer that the company is on the brink of disaster. A Judge has subsequently ruled that DirecTV must stop running the ads unless they are modified. "We are still able to point to the fact that Charter is in bankruptcy and the outcome is uncertain," DirecTV says -- they apparently just can't advise customers to run for their lives.

The St Louis Post-Dispatch reports this morning that Charter has filed suit against DirecTV seeking damages and an injunction over a recent DirecTV ad campaign. Charter claims the DirecTV ads infer that Charter's recent bankruptcy filing means Charter will soon go under, and that customers should flee to DirecTV in order to continue receiving television service. From the complaint:Technically, Charter's ugly fight with creditors could end badly, resulting in the dissection and sale of Charter assets, but Charter repeatedly insists that customers will see no impact from the reorganization.

According to the Associated Press, Charter Communications this week had one of their trucks carjacked in Pasadena -- while a technician was busy working high above in the elevated basket. The extended crane slammed into trees and power lines throwing the technician twenty feet to the ground. The tech is fortunately expected to live, but is listed in serious condition. As an aside, Charter saw their reorganization efforts move one step forward this week after The United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York approved Charter’s Disclosure Statement.

The Consumerist talks to an anonymous Charter Communications support technician who shares a number of handy tips for Charter customers, including the fact that you're entitled to a $20 credit if your tech is a single minute late for your appointment. The rep dishes out a few other useful tips, noting that verified outages should net you one day's credit according to the company's official policy. None of this may matter if Charter doesn't survive bankruptcy protection and reorganization, but the tipster's list is probably worth a read for Charter customers.

While Charter Communications insists that the carrier's bankruptcy filing and reorganization will not impact customers, that's looking less and less like a certainty. Lenders are increasingly fighting Charter's restructuring plan, claiming it's too risky and "may not be feasible." The Justice Department's US Trustee is claiming Charter isn't disclosing adequate information on their plan.