More Time Warner Cable call center jobs for Charlotte?

Might Time Warner Cable bring more call center jobs to the Charlotte area?

Charter Communications, which announced last month that it is buying Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks, said in a securities filing this week that it intends to bring “thousands” of Time Warner Cable call center jobs back to the U.S. from overseas.

New York-based Time Warner Cable, and the Charlotte area’s dominant cable provider with about 480,000 customers, has major centers in every market it serves, including two in Charlotte. One serves residential customers and is located in the Arrowood Road/Interstate 77 area, and the otherserves business customers and is located in Ballantyne.

Together, the Charlotte call centers employ more than 550 people. Altogether, Time Warner Cable employs about 3,140 in the local market, many at its Charlotte administrative office.

Rich Ruggiero, Time Warner Cable’s vice president of public relations, said it is too early to speculate about the job implications for any specific market.

“But the important point at the outset of the regulatory review is Charter’s public commitment to improve service and its relationships with customers across its footprint,” Ruggiero said in an email to the Observer.

Analysts say overlap in some corporate functions after the deal closes could also mean layoffs.

St. Louis-based Charter, currently the No. 4 cable provider in the U.S., has been bringing back jobs from overseas call centers over the last three years.

“New Charter will also return TWC call center jobs to the United States and will hire and train thousands of new employees for its customer service call centers and field technician operations,” Charter said in the filing.

Charter already serves about 130 markets in North Carolina, including Lincolnton, Hickory and Asheville.

Time Warner Cable is the nation’s second-largest cable provider. The merged company would still be second, behind Comcast. The merger is expected to be approved by federal regulators by year’s end.

This story was originally published June 26, 2015 at 3:31 PM with the headline "More Time Warner Cable call center jobs for Charlotte?."