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The telcos had a good run, and for more than three years used aggressive pricing to add more broadband subscribers than cable. But now that the discounts are largely gone, DSL is on the wane. Leichtman Research Group added up the numbers for Q1 and the 19 top cable companies added 1.19 million subscribers in the quarter, compared to 1.01 million for the phone companies in the same period.

NYT Bits scribe Saul Hansell (SAI 100 #29) confirms an earlier report that Charter Communications, the No. 4 cable company, has started warning its cable modem subscribers that it will start tracking all of the Web sites they visit. Charter (CHTR) will sell the data to a firm called NebuAd, which will use subscribers' browsing history to target which ads they'll see. Charter will test the system in four markets within a month and will then decide whether or not to roll it out to its nearly 3 million Internet subscribers, Hansell reports.

Charter Communications (CHTR) is running out of cash.

The highly leveraged cable company this morning said in its first-quarter earnings release that cash on hand, cash flows from operating activities and amounts available on its credit facilities will be “adequate” to fund cash needs through 2009, but “will not be sufficient” to fund projected cash needs in 2010, due in part to maturing of $2.2 billion in senior notes maturing in September 2010. The company, controlled by billionaire Paul Allen, did not provide any information on how it might address the issue.

Monday, May 12

Filed under: Forecasts, Deals, Bad news

Charter Communications (NASDAQ: CHTR) raised another $1 billion in junk bonds. That may not help. The cable company is a potential candidate for a Chapter 11 filing.

According to The Wall Street Journal, "Rating company Standard & Poor's affirmed its single-B-minus credit rating on Charter, but revised the loss-making company's outlook to negative from stable due to increased concerns about its liquidity."