Charter's Rutledge Shifts To Executive Chairman Role, Winfrey Named CEO

Tom Rutledge, longtime president and chief executive officer of Charter Communications -- the second-largest U.S. cable TV operator -- is shifting to the role of executive chairman.

Chris Winfrey, the chief operating officer, will become president and chief executive officer of the company, starting in December.

Rutledge -- who has been in the top post since 2012 -- will oversee Charter’s Government Affairs, among other responsibilities, in the new post through the end of his contract in November of 2023.

Winfrey came to Charter in 2010 as chief financial officer, adding oversight to the company’s Spectrum cable/broadband and mobile brand in 2019. He became chief operating officer last year.

Under Rutledge’s tenure, he boosted the company's subscriber base organically and through acquisitions, making deals to buy Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks and Optimum West cable systems.

Charter’s service area spans across 55 million homes and businesses.

A long-time cable TV executive veteran -- with more than 50 years in the business -- Rutledge became president of Time Warner Cable in 2001.

Later on, before coming to Charter in 2012, he was chief operating officer of Cablevision Systems, where he oversaw the company's cable TV business and its Rainbow Media unit, Cablevision's national programming business, which includes the AMC, IFC, Sundance TV and WEtv networks; Clearview Cinemas and Newsday.

Rutledge is a former chairman of the NCTA, the cable TV/internet business trade organization

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