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News Release

Charter Communications Exceeds Revenue, Operating Cash Flow Guidance; Strong Digital Video, High-Speed Data and Basic Customer Increases Continued During Second Quarter

ST. LOUIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 30, 2001--Charter Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq:CHTR) today reported second quarter 2001 revenue and operating cash flow growth exceeding Wall Street estimates. Increases in digital video, high-speed data, and basic video customers during the three-month period ended June 30, 2001 were in line with the company's previously stated guidance, according to Jerry Kent, President and CEO. "I'm proud once again to acknowledge this management team's demonstrated ability to post outstanding quarterly results in today's highly competitive marketplace. We're now in an excellent position to achieve all of our goals for this fiscal year," Mr. Kent said.

Second Quarter Financial Highlights

For the second quarter of 2001, revenue increased 16.1% to $928.5 million, and operating cash flow increased 14.1% to $428.1 million compared to pro forma results for the second quarter of 2000. This compares favorably to previous guidance of 13%-15% revenue growth and

  • 11.5%-13.5% operating cash flow growth for the second quarter. Charter reported internal customer growth of 2.1% compared to pro forma second quarter of 2000 for a total of 6,388,300 customers. "Our revenue and operating cash flow growth accelerated in the second quarter. Outstanding customer service initiatives and aggressive marketing efforts contributed greatly to our strong internal customer growth," Mr. Kent said.

Demand for Advanced Services Remains Strong

As of June 30, 2001, Charter Digital CableTM customers totaled 1,585,000 with increases averaging more than 18,500 customers per week during the second quarter. Mr. Kent said Charter's goal is to end the year 2001 with over 2 million digital cable customers. "We're exceeding our originally expected average weekly install rate for the year, and we're on track to achieve over 30% digital penetration by the end of 2001," Mr. Kent said. "Our customers continued to see that our digital video product makes more sense in the price-value equation than satellite service."

Mr. Kent said he expects Charter to maintain its industry leadership in the deployment of video on demand (VOD) technology. "With VOD launches already underway in the suburbs of Atlanta; the Pasadena and Long Beach areas of Los Angeles; St. Louis; Fort Worth; the Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina area; Hickory, North Carolina; and Slidell, Louisiana, Charter will pass some 2.2 million homes by the end of 2001," Mr. Kent said. "Early customer tracking in digital households is showing that VOD increases Charter Digital Cable customer retention."

Two-way high-speed data (HSD) service was available to 59% of Charter's homes passed as of June 30, 2001. As of that date, Charter served 419,400 data customers, having added 76,100 Charter Pipeline(TM) customers during the second quarter. "We're capitalizing on our increased two-way footprint resulting from our $3.5 billion rebuild and upgrade of infrastructure by aggressively marketing and deploying our high-speed data product everywhere that it's available," he said. Charter increased its HSD customer guidance after the first quarter, and is now confident of ending the year at the high end of their guidance of between 550,000 and 600,000 HSD customers, as Charter expects to accelerate its high speed data growth rate for the balance of the year, Mr. Kent said

Recent Developments

On June 30, 2001, Charter and AT&T Broadband (AT&T) closed cable system transactions announced in February. The transactions resulted in the net addition of approximately 554,000 customers for Charter in exchange for $1.77 billion in cash and cable systems serving 9,000 customers for AT&T. Charter acquired cable systems from AT&T serving approximately 563,000 customers in the St. Louis area; areas of Auburn, Birmingham and Selma, Alabama; and the Reno area of Nevada and California.

In May 2001, Charter issued approximately 60.2 million shares of Class A common stock and $632.5 million of Convertible Senior Notes due 2006, and its subsidiary issued $1.5 billion of Senior and Senior Discount Notes for total proceeds of $3.4 billion. Mr. Kent said that with the completion of these offerings, Charter's business plan, including the $3.5 billion rebuild program, is fully funded through 2003, at which point the company expects to generate free cash flow.

Outlook

Mr. Kent reiterated Charter's previous 2001 annual guidance of 14%

  • 16% revenue growth and 12% - 14% operating cash flow growth, including the pro forma impact of the acquired systems from AT&T. He also reiterated that Charter expects to end the year with over 2 million digital cable customers, and reaffirmed the company's previously upgraded data customer estimate of 550,000 to 600,000 by year-end. Mr. Kent now believes that the company will end the year at the high end of this range. The systems acquired from AT&T are expected to add approximately 150,000 digital customers and 30,000 data customers to these estimates. Mr. Kent reaffirmed internal customer growth expectations of at least 2.0%. Charter has posted on its web site revised quarterly pro forma operating results to include the recently acquired systems from AT&T for 2000 and the first half of 2001. These results can be found in the "Financial Outlook" section of the "Investor Center" via "About Us" at www.charter.com.

About Charter Communications

Charter Communications, a Wired World(TM) company, is among the nation's largest broadband communications companies, currently serving some 7 million customers in 40 states. Charter provides a full range of advanced broadband services to the home, including cable television on an advanced digital video programming platform marketed under the Charter Digital Cable(TM) brand and high-speed Internet access via Charter Pipeline(TM). Commercial high-speed data, video and Internet solutions are provided under the Charter Business Networks(TM) brand. Advertising sales and production services are sold under the Charter Media(TM) brand.

A Fortune 500 company, Charter is the 2001 recipient of the Outstanding Corporate Growth Award from the Association for Corporate Growth, the 2001 R.E. "Ted" Turner Innovator of the Year Award from the Southern Cable Telecommunications Association, and the 2000 Innovator Award for Technology from Cablevision Magazine.

More information about Charter can be found at www.charter.com.

Detailed financial information is included in the attached addendum.

Charter will conduct a conference call to discuss their operating results on Monday, July 30, 2001, at 11:00 AM Eastern Time. The call will be available live via webcast at www.charter.com. The call will be available on the "Investor Center" portion of the website, via "About Us." Participants should go to the call link at least 10 minutes prior to the start time to register. The call will be archived on the website.

Statements in this press release regarding Charter Communications' business that are not historical facts may be "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from any such forward-looking statements are identified in the reports and documents Charter files from time to time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

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CONTACT: Charter Communications, Inc., St. Louis
Media:
Andy Morgan, 314/543-2217
amorgan@chartercom.com
or
Analysts:
Mary Jo Moehle, 314/543-2397
mmoehle@chartercom.com