• The Hollywood Reporter, Friday, January 16, 2009 9:15 AM

Two subsidiaries of Charter Communications missed interest payments worth $73.7 million by a mid-January deadline, raising the potential for a bankruptcy filing.

The St. Louis cable operator, controlled by Paul Allen, has been trying to restructure its debt since December and says it has a grace period for interest payments that ends in mid-February. Charter says it has about $900 million in cash and cash equivalents, which it is earmarking for operating costs and expenses.

Citi analyst David Hamburger says the news about the missed payments increases the likelihood that Charter will file Chapter 11, "given how difficult it will be to successfully restructure the balance sheet outside of bankruptcy."

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