Charter 2009 Annual Report Download - page 86

Download and view the complete annual report

Please find page 86 of the 2009 Charter annual report below. You can navigate through the pages in the report by either clicking on the pages listed below, or by using the keyword search tool below to find specific information within the annual report.

Page out of 90

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15
  • 16
  • 17
  • 18
  • 19
  • 20
  • 21
  • 22
  • 23
  • 24
  • 25
  • 26
  • 27
  • 28
  • 29
  • 30
  • 31
  • 32
  • 33
  • 34
  • 35
  • 36
  • 37
  • 38
  • 39
  • 40
  • 41
  • 42
  • 43
  • 44
  • 45
  • 46
  • 47
  • 48
  • 49
  • 50
  • 51
  • 52
  • 53
  • 54
  • 55
  • 56
  • 57
  • 58
  • 59
  • 60
  • 61
  • 62
  • 63
  • 64
  • 65
  • 66
  • 67
  • 68
  • 69
  • 70
  • 71
  • 72
  • 73
  • 74
  • 75
  • 76
  • 77
  • 78
  • 79
  • 80
  • 81
  • 82
  • 83
  • 84
  • 85
  • 86
  • 87
  • 88
  • 89
  • 90

CCH II, LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
DECEMBER 31, 2009, 2008, AND 2007
(dollars in millions, except where indicated)
F-38
21. Commitments and Contingencies
Commitments
The following table summarizes the Company’ s payment obligations as of December 31, 2009 for its contractual
obligations.
Total 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Thereafter
Contractual Obligations
Capital and Operating Lease Obligations (1) $ 98 $ 22 $ 20 $ 17 $ 14 $ 11 $ 14
Programming Minimum Commitments (2) 371 101 104 110 56 -- --
Other (3) 350 325 18 3 3 1 --
Total $ 819 $ 448 $ 142 $ 130 $ 73 $ 12 $ 14
(1) The Company leases certain facilities and equipment under noncancelable operating leases. Leases and rental
costs charged to expense for the one month ended December 31, 2009 and eleven months ended November 30,
2009 and years ended December 31, 2008, and 2007, were $2 million, $23 million, $24 million, and $23
million, respectively.
(2) The Company pays programming fees under multi-year contracts ranging from three to ten years, typically
based on a flat fee per customer, which may be fixed for the term, or may in some cases escalate over the term.
Programming costs included in the accompanying statement of operations were $146 million, $1.6 billion, $1.6
billion, and $1.6 billion, for the one month ended December 31, 2009, eleven months ended November 30, 2009
and years ended December 31, 2008, and 2007, respectively. Certain of the Company’ s programming
agreements are based on a flat fee per month or have guaranteed minimum payments. The table sets forth the
aggregate guaranteed minimum commitments under the Company’ s programming contracts.
(3) “Other” represents other guaranteed minimum commitments, which consist primarily of commitments to the
Company’ s billing services vendors.
The following items are not included in the contractual obligation table due to various factors discussed below.
However, the Company incurs these costs as part of its operations:
• The Company rents utility poles used in its operations. Generally, pole rentals are cancelable on short
notice, but the Company anticipates that such rentals will recur. Rent expense incurred for pole rental
attachments for the one month ended December 31, 2009, eleven months ended November 30, 2009 and
years ended December 31, 2008, and 2007, was $4 million, $43 million, $47 million, and $47 million,
respectively.
• The Company pays franchise fees under multi-year franchise agreements based on a percentage of revenues
generated from video service per year. The Company also pays other franchise related costs, such as public
education grants, under multi-year agreements. Franchise fees and other franchise-related costs included in
the accompanying statement of operations were $15 million, $161 million, $179 million, and $172 million
for the one month ended December 31, 2009, eleven months ended November 30, 2009 and years ended
December 31, 2008, and 2007, respectively.
• The Company also has $124 million in letters of credit, primarily to its various worker’ s compensation,
property and casualty, and general liability carriers, as collateral for reimbursement of claims.