News Release
Charter Communications Receives Court Approval to Pay Trade Creditors for Pre-Filing Obligations in the Normal Course
Receives final approval for first-day motions
Local Franchise Authorities to be paid in the normal course
Operations continue as usual
St. Louis, MO – Charter Communications, Inc. (Pink OTC: CHTRQ) and its debtor subsidiaries and affiliates (“Charter” or the “Company”) today announced that they received authorization from the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (the “Court”) to pay in the normal course trade creditor balances that were incurred prior to the Company’s chapter 11 filing on March 27, 2009 (the “Petition Date”). As a debtor in possession, the Company is authorized to transact business in the ordinary course of business and, as such, has been paying its trade creditors in full for balances incurred after the Petition Date in the normal course.
Charter today also received final approval from the Court for all of its first-day motions for which it had been granted interim approval, including, among other things, continuing employee wage and benefits programs, paying fees to its Local Franchise Authorities incurred before and after the filing in full and in the normal course and utilizing its cash on hand and cash flows from operating activities to continue to fund its projected cash needs as it proceeds with its financial restructuring. As announced on March 30, 2009, Charter previously received final Court approval to honor current customer programs without interruption.
“We are pleased that the Court has granted these authorizations so that we can continue moving forward as planned,” said Neil Smit, President and Chief Executive Officer. “As always, we remain committed to providing our customers with quality cable, Internet and phone service and we look forward to completing our financial restructuring as soon as practicable and emerging as a stronger company.”
As previously announced, on March 27, 2009, Charter filed its Pre-Arranged Plan and Chapter 11 petitions in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York in order to implement a financial restructuring, which, upon approval, would reduce the Company’s debt by approximately $8 billion. The Company’s principal Chapter 11 petition has been assigned the lead case number 09-11435. Additional information about Charter’s restructuring, including the disclosure statement describing the Pre-Arranged Plan and the terms of the committed and optional investments by members of the Bondholder Committee, is available at the Company’s website www.charter.com. You may also receive information from the Company’s restructuring information line, 800-419-3922. For access to Court documents and other general information about the Chapter 11 cases, please visit www.kccllc.net/charter.
About Charter Communications
Charter Communications, Inc. is a leading broadband communications company and the fourth-largest cable operator in the United States. Charter provides a full range of advanced broadband services, including advanced Charter Digital Cable® video entertainment programming, Charter High-Speed® Internet access, and Charter Telephone®. Charter Business™ similarly provides scalable, tailored, and cost-effective broadband communications solutions to business organizations, such as business-to-business Internet access, data networking, video and music entertainment services, and business telephone. Charter's advertising sales and production services are sold under the Charter Media® brand. On March 27, 2009, Charter filed a pre-arranged plan and Chapter 11 petitions in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. Charter believes its operations are strong and expects to continue operating as usual during the financial restructuring. More information about Charter can be found at www.charter.com.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:
This release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, regarding, among other things, our plans, strategies and prospects, both business and financial. Although we believe that our plans, intentions and expectations reflected in or suggested by these forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot assure you that we will achieve or realize these plans, intentions or expectations. Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions including, without limitation, the factors described under "Risk Factors" from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). Many of the forward-looking statements contained in this release may be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "should," "plans," "will," "may," "intend," "estimated," "aim," "on track," "target," "opportunity" and "potential," among others. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements we make in this release are set forth in other reports or documents that we file from time to time with the SEC, including our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q filed in 2008 and our most recent annual report on Form 10-K, and include, but are not limited to:
- the completion of the Company's restructuring including the outcome and impact on our business of the proceedings under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code;
- the ability of the Company to satisfy closing conditions under the agreements-in-principle and Pre-Arranged Plan and related documents and to have the Pre-Arranged Plan confirmed by the bankruptcy court;
- the availability of and access to, in general, funds to meet interest payment obligations under our debt and to fund our operations and necessary capital expenditures, either through cash on hand, cash flows from operating activities, further borrowings or other sources and, in particular, our ability to fund debt obligations (by dividend, investment or otherwise) to the applicable obligor of such debt;
- our ability to comply with all covenants in our indentures and credit facilities, any violation of which, if not cured in a timely manner, could trigger a default of our other obligations under cross-default provisions;
- our ability to repay debt prior to or when it becomes due and/or successfully access the capital or credit markets to refinance that debt through new issuances, exchange offers or otherwise, including restructuring our balance sheet and leverage position, especially given recent volatility and disruption in the capital and credit markets;
- the impact of competition from other distributors, including incumbent telephone companies, direct broadcast satellite operators, wireless broadband providers, and digital subscriber line ("DSL") providers;
- difficulties in growing, further introducing, and operating our telephone services, while adequately meeting customer expectations for the reliability of voice services;
- our ability to adequately meet demand for installations and customer service;
- our ability to sustain and grow revenues and cash flows from operating activities by offering video, high-speed Internet, telephone and other services, and to maintain and grow our customer base, particularly in the face of increasingly aggressive competition;
- our ability to obtain programming at reasonable prices or to adequately raise prices to offset the effects of higher programming costs;
- general business conditions, economic uncertainty or downturn, including the recent volatility and disruption in the capital and credit markets and the significant downturn in the housing sector and overall economy; and
- the effects of governmental regulation on our business.
All forward-looking statements attributable to us or any person acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. We are under no duty or obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this release.
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Contacts:
Media:
Anita Lamont, 314-543-2215
Charter Communications, Inc.
Andy Brimmer / Sharon Stern
Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher
212-355-4449
or
Analysts:
Mary Jo Moehle, 314-543-2397
Charter Communications, Inc.