Charter’s Tom Rutledge, A 50-Year Cable TV Veteran, To Pass CEO Baton To COO Chris Winfrey In December

deadline.com:

Charter Communications, a major broadband provider and the No. 2 U.S. cable TV operator, has promoted Chris Winfrey to CEO. On December 1, he will succeed longtime cable business leader Tom Rutledge, who will segue to an executive chairman role after five decades in the industry.Winfrey had most recently been COO at Charter, which operates the Spectrum cable and internet brand, and before that he spent a decade as the company’s CFO.In the announcement of the move, Charter said Rutledge will be executive chairman through November 2023.

During the interim period, he will maintain oversight of the company’s government affairs and help with the CEO transition.Rutledge, who was a longtime lieutenant of James Dolan at Cablevision prior to taking the top job at Charter, helped lead the company’s transformative acquisitions of Time Warner Cable and Suddenlink.

Those deals vaulted Charter to the upper tiers of the cable world, enabling it to make strides against rival Comcast, whose own bid for Time Warner Cable was withdrawn after scrutiny by regulators.In 1977, Rutledge joined American Television and Communications, a predecessor of Time Warner Cable, as a manager trainee and climbed the ladder to eventually become president of Time Warner Cable in 2001.

At Cablevision, his portfolio also included Rainbow Media (the programming business later spun off as AMC Networks) as well as Clearview Cinemas and Newsday.“It has been an honor and a pleasure to lead Charter and this incredible team over the past 10 years,” Rutledge said. “We have grown the company through innovation and strategic investments and have positioned Charter to provide the best converged connectivity products and services available today.