Correction: Fitch Downgrades Charter's IDR to 'C'.CHICAGO -- (This is an amended version of a press release issued Jan. 15, 2009, containing revised rating information for Charter Communications Operating, LLC (Logical Link Control) See "LANs" under data link protocol. LLC - Logical Link Control .) Fitch Ratings Fitch Ratings An international rating agency for financial institutions, insurance companies, and corporate, sovereign, and municipal debt. Fitch Ratings has headquarters in New York and London and is wholly owned by FIMALAC of Paris. has downgraded the Issuer Default Rating (IDR IDR In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the Indonesian Rupiah. Notes: The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. ) assigned to Charter Communications, Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiaries Wholly Owned Subsidiary A subsidiary whose parent company owns 100% of its common stock. Notes: In other words, the parent company owns the company outright and there are no minority owners. to 'C' from 'CCC', and removed the ratings from Rating Watch Negative. In addition, Fitch has downgraded the individual issue ratings of Charter and its subsidiaries as outlined below. Approximately $21.1 billion of debt outstanding as of Sept. 30, 2008 is affected by Fitch's action. Fitch's action follows the company's announcement that two of its subsidiaries, CCH CCH Colegio de Ciencias y Humanidades (Spanish) CCH Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist CCH Cook County Hospital CCH Certified in Classical Homeopathy CCH Country Club Hills (Fairfax City, VA, USA) I Holdings, LLC and Charter Communications Holdings LLC, failed to make a scheduled interest payment totaling approximately $73.7 million due on Jan. 15, 2009 on outstanding debt totaling approximately $1.2 billion as of Dec. 31, 2008. Fitch's ratings have long reflected Charter's highly leveraged balance sheet, the company's substantial free cash flow deficits, and precarious liquidity position. The 'C' IDR reflects Fitch's opinion that a broad-based distressed debt distressed debt Debt with low junk status and a market price substantially below par value, often pennies on the dollar. Investors sometimes buy distressed debt on the possibility that management can renegotiate loan agreements and keep the issuer out of exchange, and/or bankruptcy filing is imminent even though the company has sufficient liquidity to fund its operations into 2010. As of Jan. 13, 2009, Charter had in excess of $900 million of cash on hand. Fitch has downgraded the following ratings: Charter Communications, Inc. -- IDR to 'C' from 'CCC'; -- Convertible senior notes to 'C/RR4' from 'CCC/RR4'. Charter Communications Holdings, LLC -- IDR to 'C' from 'CCC'; -- Senior unsecured notes to 'C/RR4' from 'CCC/RR4'. CCH I Holdings, LLC -- IDR to 'C' from 'CCC'; -- Senior unsecured notes to 'C/RR4' from 'CCC/RR4'. CCH I, LLC -- IDR to 'C' from 'CCC'; -- Senior secured notes to 'C/RR4' from 'CCC/RR4'. CCH II, LLC -- IDR to 'C' from 'CCC'; -- Senior unsecured notes to 'C/RR4' from 'CCC/RR4'. CCO (Chief or Corporate Compliance Officer) The executive person in charge of compliance issues, regulatory requirements, internal controls and managing audits within an enterprise or organization. Holdings, LLC -- IDR to 'C' from 'CCC'; -- Senior secured notes to 'C/RR4' from 'CCC/RR4'; -- Third lien term loan to 'CCC/RR1' from 'B/RR1'. Charter Communications Operating, LLC -- IDR to 'C' from 'CCC'; -- Senior secured credit facility to 'CCC/RR1' from 'B/RR1'; -- Senior secured second lien notes to 'CCC/RR1' from 'B/RR1'. Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use Terms of Use are rules set up by the owner of an intellectual property or service to govern how they may be legally used. In many cases, terms of service are used as a contractual agreement between a company and users of a service they provide. of such ratings are available on the agency's public site, www.fitchratings.com. Published ratings, criteria and methodologies are available from this site, at all times. Fitch's code of conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance and other relevant policies and procedures Policies and Procedures are a set of documents that describe an organization's policies for operation and the procedures necessary to fulfill the policies. They are often initiated because of some external requirement, such as environmental compliance or other governmental are also available from the 'Code of Conduct' section of this site. |
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