Charter, Excite@Home Reach Deal to Continue Service for 14,000 Customers
Service could be maintained for about 14,000 customers in the Pacific Northwest of failing high-speed cable Internet provider Excite@Home under a deal with Charter Communications, the Associated Press reported Friday.Charter Communications is a cable provider that uses Excite@Home to offer its customers cable Internet access. That service will end once Excite@Home, which faces bankruptcy, ceases operations.
Several cable companies have pledged a total of $355 million to keep Excite@Home running for three more months. Excite@Home had said it would shut off service to companies not part of the deal, including Charter, St. Louis.
All but 10 percent of Charter's 145,000 customers who used Excite@Home have been moved to a service run by Charter. An Excite@Home spokesman said that, under a deal being worked out Dec. 6, Charter would pay less than $1 million to keep Excite@Home service through Feb. 28 so it could transition the remaining customers, the AP reported.
A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge is scheduled to decide tomorrowwhether the deals between Excite@Home and its cable partners are legitimate.
