Charter 2003 Annual Report Download - page 20

shares of Charter Class A common stock, which resulted in the issuance of more shares in the exchange
transactions than would have been issued pursuant to the original terms of the convertible senior notes.
Focus for 2004
Our principal Ñnancial goal is to maximize our return on invested capital. To do so, we will focus on
increasing revenues, improving customer retention and enhancing customer satisfaction by providing reliable,
high-quality service oÅerings, superior customer service and attractive bundled oÅerings.
SpeciÑcally, we are focusing in 2004 on:
‚ increasing our sales and marketing eÅorts, especially through our national ""Get Hooked'' campaign, to
grow revenues through promoting our advanced services and emphasizing what we believe to be
competitive advantages over satellite, including one-stop shopping for video, voice, high-speed data and
interactive services;
‚ enhancing our digital service with new content and continued deployment of advanced products such as
digital video recorder (""DVR'') service, high deÑnition television service, VOD and subscription video
on demand (""SVOD,'' VOD service for selected programming categories);
‚ implementing what we believe is an attractive and competitive price point strategy for various levels
and bundled packages of digital services;
‚ continuing to improve customer service and satisfaction;
‚ managing our operating costs by exercising discipline in capital and operational spending; and
‚ identifying opportunities to continue to improve our balance sheet and liquidity.
We believe that our high-speed data service has the potential to continue to provide a substantial portion
of our revenue growth in the near future. We also plan to continue to expand our marketing of our high-speed
data service to the business community, which we believe has shown an increasing interest in high-speed data
service and private network services.
We believe we oÅer our customers an excellent choice of services through an increased variety of bundled
packages, particularly with respect to our digital video and high-speed data services. Our digital platform
enables us to oÅer a signiÑcant number and variety of channels, and we oÅer customers the opportunity to
choose among groups of channel oÅerings, including premium channels, and to combine chosen programming
with other services such as high-speed data, high deÑnition television (in selected markets) and VOD (in
selected markets).
We plan to continue our eÅorts to improve customer satisfaction through consolidation of customer
contact centers, which we have reduced from over 300 at December 31, 2000 to 53 at December 31, 2003. Our
20 largest customer contact centers now serve approximately 93% of our customers. We anticipate that this
initiative will assist us in reducing customer contact rates and call abandonment rates, thereby improving
customer satisfaction while reducing costs. We believe that consolidation and standardization of call centers
enable us to provide a more consistent experience for our customers and to improve sales through the use of
better trained, more eÇcient and sales-oriented customer service representatives.
Products and Services
We oÅer our customers traditional cable video programming (analog and digital video) as well as high-
speed data services and in some areas advanced broadband services such as high deÑnition television, VOD
and interactive television. We sell our video programming and high-speed data services on a subscription basis,
with prices and related charges, that vary primarily based on the types of service selected, whether the services
are sold as a ""bundle'' versus on an ""fia la carte'' basis, and the equipment necessary to receive the services,
with some variation in prices depending on geographic location. In addition, we oÅer telephony service to a
limited number of customers.
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