Charter CEO looks to consolidation to become larger

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Posted 12:39PM on Thursday, May 9, 2002

NEW ORLEANS - Charter Communications Inc. may make acquisitions to become a larger cable company, Chief Executive Carl Vogel said. "We'd like to be consolidating and move from mid-sized to the next size," Vogel said at the National Cable and Telecommunications Association convention here Wednesday. "If we have the opportunity to get bigger, we'd like to do that." Vogel said the St. Louis-based company plans to eventually offer cable telephony, but not in the near future. "Telephony's part of our business plan," he said, but added that currently, "we're not ready for telephony operationally." He said Charter will begin experimenting with offering multiple Internet service providers for its high-speed service "shortly." Cox Communications Inc. Chief Executive James Robbins said the Atlanta company is working on a platform for multiple Internet service providers, but it is facing some resistance from other companies. "I hope that before the summer's out we can get something done," he said. Rocco Commisso, chairman and chief executive of Mediacom Communications Corp., Middletown, N.Y., a smaller cable operator that operates in more rural markets, said he is "very wary" about using ISPs outside the company. He cited Mediacom's experience with Excite@Home, a provider that went into bankruptcy and ended service before all customers it served could be switched to other providers, leaving its cable company partners scrambling. Commisso said Mediacom is looking for acquisition opportunities at the right price.