Charter 2007 Annual Report Download - page 13

We believe that customers value our ability to combine video,
high-speed Internet, and telephone services into attractively
priced bundled offerings that distinguish us from the direct
broadcast satellite (“DBS”) competition. Bundling of services, by
combining two or more Charter services for one value-based
price, is fundamental to our marketing strategy because we
believe bundled offerings increase customer acceptance of our
services and improve customer retention and satisfaction. We
will pursue further growth in our customer base through targeted
marketing of bundled services and continually improving the
end-to-end customer experience. By continually focusing on the
needs of our customers – raising customer service levels and
investing in products and services they desire – our goal is to be
the premier provider of in-home entertainment and communica-
tions services in the communities we serve.
The Company’s continuing strategic priorities include:
kimproving the end-to-end customer experience and increas-
ing customer loyalty;
kgrowing sales and retention for all our products and
services;
kimproving operating and capital effectiveness and efficiency;
and
kcontinuing an opportunistic approach to enhancing liquidity,
extending maturities, and reducing debt.
We believe our focus on these strategic priorities will enable
us to provide greater value to our customers and thereby
generate future growth opportunities for us. We are making
service improvements to our technical operations to further
enhance the operating effectiveness and efficiencies of our oper-
ating platform.
Charter markets its services by employing a segmented,
targeted marketing approach. We determine which marketing
and sales programs have been the most effective using manage-
ment tools that track, analyze, and report the results of our
marketing campaigns. We then pursue the programs demonstrat-
ing the highest expected returns.
During 2007, we extended the deployment of our telephone
capabilities to approximately 2.2 million additional homes passed,
to reach a total of approximately 9.0 million homes passed across
our network, and we expect to make telephone service available
to approximately 85% of our estimated total homes passed by
year-end 2008. During 2008, we plan to continue our marketing
and sales efforts to attract additional customers to our telephone
service, primarily through bundled offers with our video and
high-speed Internet services.
In addition to serving and growing our residential customer
base, we will increase efforts to market video, high-speed Internet
and telephone services to the business community. We believe
that small businesses will find our bundled service offerings
provide value and convenience, and that we can continue to
grow this portion of our business.
We expect to continue a disciplined approach to managing
capital expenditures by directing resources to initiatives and
opportunities offering the highest expected returns.
Our sales, acquisitions, and exchange of systems in 2007
have improved the density of our geographic service areas, while
operational initiatives provide a more efficient operating platform.
We will continue to evaluate our geographic service areas for
further opportunities to improve operating and capital efficien-
cies, through sales, exchanges of systems with other providers,
and/or acquisitions of cable systems.
In 2008, we will continue to evaluate potential financial
transactions that can enhance our liquidity, extend debt maturi-
ties, and/or reduce our debt.
CHARTER COMMUNICATIONS, INC. 2007 FORM 10-K
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