Charter Communications, Inc., is an American telecommunications and mass media company with services branded as Spectrum. The company is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut.
With over 32 million customers in 41 states as of 2022,[5][1] it is the largest cable operator in the United States by subscribers,[6] just ahead of Comcast, and the largest pay TV operator ahead of Comcast and AT&T.[7] Charter is the fifth-largest telephone provider based on number of residential lines. Its brand of Spectrum services also include internet access, internet security, managed services, and unified communications.[8]
In late 2012, with longtime Cablevision executive Thomas Rutledge named as their CEO, Charter relocated its corporate headquarters from St. Louis, Missouri, to Stamford, Connecticut, though kept many of its operations in St. Louis.[9] On May 18, 2016, Charter finalized acquisition of Time Warner Cable and its sister company Bright House Networks,[10] making it the third-largest pay television service in the United States.[11] In 2019, Charter ranked No. 70 in the Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.[12]
History
1980–1992: Beginnings
Charter Communications CATV systems was founded in 1980 by Charles H. Leonard in Barry County, Michigan.[13] The original Charter system headquarters and offices were located at 1001 Payne Lake Road, Yankee Springs Township, Michigan. Leonard began a corporate partnership with Gary Wilcox and Gerry Kazma, both from Naperville, Illinois, during which Spectrum Communications (Wilcox) merged with Charter Systems (1981–1983).
1993: Consolidation and founding of Charter Communications, Inc.
Through continued mergers and acquisition, Charter was consolidated in 1993 by Barry Babcock, Jerald Kent and Howard Wood, who had been former executives at Cencom Cable Television in St. Louis, Missouri. It was also incorporated in the state of Missouri in 1993.[14]
1994–1998: Early growth
Cybersecurity and network incidents
2015 Website vulnerability
In May 2015, security researchers Eric Taylor and Blake Welsh identified a vulnerability in a Charter Communications Internet service website that exposed subscriber information. The flaw stemmed from the site’s reliance on IP addresses for customer identification, which could be manipulated through modified HTTP header to access account numbers, modem serial numbers, device names, home addresses, and billing details. Charter patched the affected portion of the site shortly after being notified, stating that fewer than one million customers were impacted and that no passwords or credit card numbers were exposed. [84][85]
2023 Third-party vendor data breach
In 2023, a third-party vendor working with Charter was breached, exposing data on approximately 550,000 customers, including names, addresses, and account numbers. Charter reported that financial data and Customer Proprietary Network Information were not affected.[86]
Operations
Current operations
As of 2022, Charter Communications offers service to an estimated 32 million people in 41 states[5] with significant coverage in 38 states.[109][110][111][112]
In November 2013, the company announced the re-branding of its residential services to Charter Spectrum, which encompassed an upgrade to an all-digital network for its video, voice and broadband services.[113]
Lawsuits
In 2002, the United States Department of Justice investigated the company, leading to the indictment of four former executives in 2005 for improper financial reporting related primarily to the inflation of cable subscriber numbers to improve financial figures.[123]
In 2004, Charter settled a class-action lawsuit concerning the questionable financial reporting associated with the U.S. Department of Justice's 2002 investigation and subsequent indictment of four former executives. Current and former shareholders (and their attorneys) were awarded $144 million as well as an agreement from Charter to maintain and implement proper corporate governance measures.[124]
In June 2010, Charter settled a class-action lawsuit for $18 million concerning wage and overtime claims for current and former field technicians in California, Missouri, Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois, Nevada, Washington, Oregon and Nebraska.[125]
In December 2013, a complaint was filed by Steelhead Licensing LLC for patent infringement of U.S. Patent 8082318; it is described as "Controlling service requests transmitted from a client to a server".[126]
See also
- List of United States telephone companies
- List of cable television companies
- List of Connecticut companies
- Spectrum
- Spectrum Sports
- Spectrum News
- SportsNet LA
External links
References
- Company Profile Charter Communications, retrieved September 12, 2017^
- Charter Communications, Inc. 2025 Annual Report (Form 10-K) U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, January 30, 2026^
- Jim Royal. 3 Reasons to Love Charter Communications