FACE OFF WITH DISNEY
April 30: Deadline for settlement of retransmission-consent negotiations with Walt Disney Co., which threatens to cut off programs in seven markets where ABC O & O broadcast-TV stations overlap with TW systems.
FCC QUESTIONS MERGER
March 9: FCC seeks additional information on how TW's $153 billion merger with America Online will benefit consumers.
AT & T AGREEMENT REACHED
March 8: Agrees to market AT & T's local and long-distance telephone service with its systems in Albany and Syracuse, N.Y.
SENATORS CONCERNED
March 1-2: Along with AOL, TW faces grilling from Senate Commerce Committee members worried about how combined company would control Internet access.
MOTHER OF ALL MERGERS
Jan. 10: Accepts offer to merge with AOL, creating the world's largest media company. Initially valued at a record $183 billion in stock and debt, the deal's value dipped as low as $117 billion on Feb. 18, as investors questioned the wisdom of a "new-media" company's aligning with a "traditional-media" group.
FX FLIES
Dec. 16, 1999: After five years, TW agrees to carry News Corp. Ltd.'s FX cable channel on most of its systems. The day before, TW said it would create a $500 million fund to make investments in digital media.
STICKING WITH STATEN ISLAND
Oct. 5, 1999: Shifts weight in TWC Cable Partners, which TW co-owns with Cox Communications Inc. TW will control 109,500-customer system in Staten Island, N.Y., while Cox gets cash plus control of 73,000-sub system in Fort Walton Beach, Fla.
VOD TESTS SCHEDULED
Aug. 25, 1999: Plans video-on-demand tests over its cable systems in Tampa, Fla., and Austin, Texas. TW's interactive-TV test in Orlando, Fla., known as the Full Service Network, flopped in 1997.
3. Charter
Charter
Communications
12444 Powerscourt Drive
Suite 100
St. Louis, Mo. 63131
(314) 965-0555
Top executive: Jerry Kent, president
Ownership: publicly traded; Vulcan Ventures owns controlling interest
Homes passed: 9,858,000
Basic subscribers: 6,138,000
Basic penetration: 62.3%
Digital-ready homes: 4,675,000
Digital subs: 155,000
Digital penetration: 3.3%
High-speed Internet-ready homes: 3,468,000
High-speed Internet subs: 66,000
Internet penetration: 1.9%
Major clusters: Los Angeles; Dallas-Fort Worth; St. Louis; Southeast region (including Atlanta); North Central region (Minnesota and Wisconsin); Gulf Coast region (New Orleans, Gulfport, Miss., and Mobile, Ala.); Michigan; and Mid-Atlantic and Northwest regions
