Charter's next on the block to add the Big Ten Network and "related programming" in time for Saturday's football openers. No word whether or not this will include the HD version of the network, or if it will be in time for the start of the season, but it is definitely on the way. In a minor footnote, Charter mentioned that in addition to carrying the BTN across its systems in Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Northern Illinois it's also reupping Jim Tressel's snazzy sweatervest collection, teaching Terrelle Pryor the correct name of "the University of Ohio State University" and teaching Ohio State how to defend against the spread offense. Good times all around.

Why does it seem that Charter, out of all the cable carriers in the world, finds itself intertwined with so much mischief? The latest forehead-pounding episode is actually a two-fer, with gripes arising from Reno, Nevada and a rural section of North Carolina. In the Silver State, Charter is apparently looking to pull four public access channels to retrieve bandwidth for the launch of 12 new digital channels. The company's George Jostlin proclaims that the "majority of consumers are calling it on a daily basis and asking for more HD / digital programming," but the City of Reno has announced its intentions to sue the provider if an agreement can't be reached on the matter by next Wednesday. Across the country in McDowell County, NC, Charter is catching flack for wanting to strip Marion of its information channel (and combine it with the county's government channel) in order to add three HD stations. We like the intentions here, but seriously, you folks should work on the execution.

[Thanks PopWeaverHDTV, image courtesy of TSLPL]

Read - Issues in Reno
Read - Stirring the pot in rural NC

Warner Bros. is all over digital distribution in celebration of its 85th anniversary, pushing 85 of its classic flick onto video on-demand, most in high definition and many of them available in HD VOD for the first time. Anyone with Time Warner, Comcast, Cox, Charter, Rogers, DirecTV or DISH Network should have access to flicks including Doctor Zhivago, Casablanca, Chariots of Fire, Mad Max Beyond the Thunderdome straight from their remote starting today. Additionally Time Warner has lined up a series of indoor and outdoor screenings in LA and New York so keep an eye out for those. Great films in high quality without having to leave our couch, if we could stop watching the Olympics we'd take a look, check out the full list after the break. [Disclosure: Engadget is part of the Time Warner family]

Charter has done its fair share of work to earn a less than stellar reputation as a cable company, but it's looking to help customers out (and, you know, compete) in the Westport, Massachusetts region by setting up a mobile office and adding a whopping 16 HD channels to the lineup. According to Thomas P. Cohan, the company's director of government relations, the company is "working on identifying the equipment and staffing it will need to establish a consistent, part-time, local presence to handle walk-in customer service issues," and it's utilizing a makeshift office 'til then. There's no mention of what high-def stations are being added, but with 16 of them on the way, surely there's one or two in there you'll dig.

[Thanks, Nick]

Comcast nabbed the first US DOCSIS 3.0 deployment award by pushing the technology out to select Minnesota residents in April, but both Charter and Cablevision are making sure to not fall too far behind. During its most recent quarter earnings call, Cablevision COO Tom Rutledge noted that DOCSIS 3.0 would be "operational this year," with around 20% of its footprint going live in 2008 and 100% to be covered by mid-2010. Charter is also poised to introduce the lightning fast broadband capabilities to its loyal customers, with CEO Neil Smit affirming that it would be launched in at least some markets "later in the year." We'd like to think this means we can all look forward to 100Mbit/sec cable internet in the not-too-distant future, but who knows how long it'll take those other MSO's to join the bandwagon.

[VIA DSLReports]

Read - Cablevision DOCSIS 3.0 rollout
Read - Charter DOCSIS 3.0 rollout

Charter doesn't have the greatest reputation in Ventura, California (or most anywhere, for that matter), but the company is apparently trying to garner some love by throwing in two undisclosed NBC stations in high-def just before the Olympics kick off this Friday. Customers will still be waiting until 2009 to see video-on-demand, but HD junkies will be thrilled to know that more channels are on the way. According to company spokesman Del Heintz, nine more HD channels will be added to the lineup in September, though your guess is as good as ours as to which ones will go live. So, who's up for watching to see if it actually delivers on said promise?

Charter doesn't have a flawless track record when it comes to customer service, but we can't help but share a little sympathy here. Reportedly, a number of locals in Wisconsin are perturbed by the carrier's decision to push public access channels into slots that require a digital TV tuner or set-top-box. According to Mary Bennin Cardona, executive director of the Wisconsin Association of PEG Access Channels, she "thinks it's discriminatory and really harmful to our communities." Meanwhile, the February 2009 analog shutoff is drawing ever closer, meaning that these very consumers who continue to rely on analog OTA signals will soon be cut off from everything, whether they like it or not. It's reported that Charter is considering handing out STBs for free to those negatively affected, which we suppose would be the best solution here. Still, if it hasn't been made clear yet: you should probably start preparing for the DTV transition. It's coming, and it's coming fast.

[Image courtesy of SimpleSystems]

Although it took Charter long enough to muster the will to add five new high-def stations to the lineup in Asheville, North Carolina, it seems that said market won't be the only one getting gifted. One particular subscriber down in Greenville, South Carolina just received a similar pamphlet from the carrier informing him that he too will be blessed with the same newcomers: The Weather Channel HD, Discovery HD, TLC HD, Animal Planet HD and TBS HD. We're hoping the HD love won't stop here, so be sure and let us know if the same message floats to your neck of the woods.

[Thanks, Adam]

Those mysterious new high-def channels we mentioned for Asheville, NC residents last week? Yeah, we now know exactly what you can expect. As of August 13th, Charter will make room for The Weather Channel HD (712), Discovery HD (713), TLC HD (714), Animal Planet HD (715) and TBS HD (716). A few SD channels will be re-situated in the change, but it's not like you're too at all concerned about those.

[Thanks, PopWeaverHDTV]

While the DTV transition is in full swing on the eastern part of North Carolina, things have been stuck in park on the west side. Asheville, NC hasn't seen an HD addition from Charter since October of 2007, which is patently absurd in our view. Nevertheless, a short message recently popped up on set-top-boxes in the area informing users that Reelz Channel will be relocated to slot 173 on August 13st, while "new HD channels" will be arriving sometime during the same month. There's no mention of what stations will be arriving, but they'd better be good (and plentiful).

[Thanks, PopWeaverHDTV]

Northern Michigan's first HD newscasts are coming from a rather unusual source: Local Edition. Said channel is getting its ducks in a row in order to start airing local news in high-definition starting July 21st. From what we can glean, it'll only be viewable through Charter, with HD subscribers having to tune to channel 1 and flip through a few on-screen menu options. Nice job showing up the Big 4.

[Thanks, Eric]

So we already knew Charter had a mind to add FSN Wisconsin HD sometime this summer to enable locals to see some of those 65 HD Brewers games, and while August 20th is a bit late (we're being really generous here) in the season to flip the switch, we guess late is better than never. Charter has just announced plans to pick up the aforesaid sports station along with Animal Planet HD, The Movie Channel HD, TBS HD, Smithsonian HD and In-Demand HD on August 20th. As residents of Madison will surely recall, Charter vowed to roughly double its HD lineup from just over 20 to around 40 within the next two years, but based on Charter's recent dealings, we aren't so sure it'll come through on that.

[Image courtesy of RightFieldBleachers, thanks Tim]

Maybe we're just sticklers for getting things right, but the "outcome" of this fiasco still isn't sitting well with us. If you'll recall, earlier this month Charter failed to deliver a 65-inch HDTV to a contest winner, and instead, it shipped a box large enough for a 19-inch TV (which the recipient refused). After being pelted with angry cries from the media, the carrier finally bit the bullet and sent over a 42-inch HDTV alongside a 19-incher (which was probably the same one originally refused). The family seems fairly content with the resolution, but the man is still owed a 65-inch HDTV in our eyes. Oh, and if you couldn't guess, a company employee told the winner that all of this spawned from a simple "miscommunication at the office." Uh, you think that's a bit of an understatement, or what?

[Image courtesy of ZMETravel]

We're tempted to chalk this one up to miscommunication, but something just reeks of wrongdoing. As the story goes, one particular winner of a Charter Father's Day contest was promised a 65-inch HDTV as well as free Charter services for an entire year. The only requirement was to pay sales tax on the winnings -- fair enough, right? After receiving a phone call and email confirmation from the carrier, the winning dad sat down with his jubilant daughter and unsuccessfully tried to fax in his W-9. Afterwards, he decided to mail it in, and after a bit of rigmarole, a Charter associate contacted him with news that it couldn't deliver the promised set; instead, it would "try" to get him a 42-incher, though a 19-inch TV was likely in his future. After a few more days of nothing, a box arrived at his door "large enough to hold a 19-inch television," which the "winner" promptly refused. Can't make this stuff up, folks.

[Image courtesy of ZMETravel]

Charter customers in 11 LIN TV-owned markets can breathe a sigh of relief, the cable company and broadcaster have reached an agreement in principle that should allow them to continue to carry the stations' programming. Check the original post for the affected areas, however since your TV stations won't be going dark June 30, there's no real hurry. Always great when an agreement can be reached and no one has to miss even a second of that sweet, sweet HDTV.