It was a milestone for Charter, which celebrated its millionth digital subscriber. Wall Street has responded by sending Charter, which went public in November 1999, on a run. In the midst of the tech-stock rout, the company has seen its stock climb almost 40 percent in the last 12 months. Again like the other top cable companies, Charter has been busy making deals to solidify its holdings. This month's appellate court ruling struck down the Federal Communications Commission's limits on cable ownership, which had capped the total market share any single company could own at 30 percent.
Clustering makes sense in the same way that hubs make sense for the airline industry.
They're trying to rationalize the properties they already have. Charter CEO Kent says the company has slashed its head ends from almost 1,300 to less than 500 in the last year. About 45 percent of the company's subscribers are clustered in 14 cities, averaging 200,000 customers apiece. More clustering is likely to come. It makes sense in the future to look at some kind of swap for those.