• Charter: Judge to OK bankruptcy exit plan
By The Associated Press

ST. LOUIS (AP) – Charter Communications Inc. said Thursday that a bankruptcy judge plans to approve its pre-arranged reorganization plan, which is the last step before the company can emerge from court protection.

The nation's fourth-largest cable operator issued a statement saying the judge said in court that he would approve the plan and would make it official within the next several weeks. The company said Thursday it will emerge shortly after that.

St. Louis-based Charter is controlled by Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen. It filed for bankruptcy protection in March, struggling under $21.7 billion in debt accumulated as it made a string of acquisitions. The tight credit market prevented it from refinancing its loans or getting new ones.

In April, the court approved Charter's disclosure statement, which is the plain language explanation of its reorganization plan. That approval also allowed the company to solicit votes from creditors and led to the judge's consideration of the plan itself.

• Motorola intros WT21004 POL
By CED staff

Motorola has introduced what it said is the enterprise market’s first Passive Optical LAN (POL) Workgroup Terminal with 802.3af-compliant Power over Ethernet (PoE).

The WT21004 includes PoE ports to directly power LAN stationary Ethernet devices such as VoIP phones and wireless access points.

The Motorola WT21004 is designed to deliver a full range of advanced voice, data and IP video services over a converged all-optical LAN. It is easily deployed in support of enterprise users and applications and provides line-rate gigabit services at distances of up to 20 kilometers from the core switch/router, which greatly reduces the cost, complexity and operational requirements associated with traditional multi-tiered and legacy data networking technologies.

• Finance arm pushes down GE’s Q3 profit
By Stephen Manning, AP Business Writer

General Electric's third-quarter results showed just how fragile the U.S. economy remains, as its troubled financial unit dragged down earnings 44 percent, despite gains in divisions that make wind turbines, household appliances and broadcast television shows.

General Electric Co.'s total quarterly profit fell to $2.4 billion, or 23 cents per share. GE's overall revenue fell 20 percent to $37.8 billion, coming up short of what Wall Street was looking for.

GE is reportedly trying to shed NBC Universal through a deal to sell the entertainment division to cable company Comcast Corp. NBC has suffered from a decline in advertising, but the unit posted a bigger profit last quarter.