Charter Posts 2nd-Quarter Loss on Cable Upgrades

Charter Communications Inc. posted a second-quarter loss as the cable-television operator controlled by billionaire Paul Allen upgraded its network for new services such as digital TV and high-speed Internet connections.

The No. 4 U.S. cable provider’s loss was $196.8 million, or 89 cents a share. The company, which first sold shares to the public in November, didn’t provide figures for the year-earlier period because it said they weren’t comparable.

Charter spent about $14 billion to acquire 12 cable franchises last year and plans to spend $3.5 billion to upgrade cable lines for high-speed online service and digital TV, which offers hundreds of channels and better quality. Sales rose 9.8% to $794.8 million from $724 million.

The year-ago sales figure assumes that all acquisitions made since then were part of the company in the second quarter of 1999.

Charter shares Wednesday were unchanged at $13.94 on the Nasdaq stock market. The company released financial results after the close of regular U.S. markets.