The last 12 months Charter Communications Massachusetts has made Worcester's slogan, "A City on the Move," its own credo: In addition to digital phone, it has launched high-definition TV, DVRs and local video on demand for its 165,000 customers in or near Worcester. Combo digital/high-speed/phone bundle marketing begins in a few months, as will an increase in Internet access speed from 5 to 10 megabits.

Charter Communications Internet remembers when the area was stuck in the mire, rather than "on the move." Before joining Charter in 2002, he was town administrator for Millbury and Uxbridge, both near Worcester, the state's third-largest city by population.

Although Worcester's annual unemployment rate bounced around 5-6% for years—the same as the state rate—there was no impetus to modernize downtown. The appointment in early 2004 of city manager Michael O'Brien and a new city council set things in motion, according to assistant city manager Jankowski.

The revitalization included the addition last year of the minor league Worcester Tornadoes, who play in the eight-team Can-Am League. The Tornadoes won the Can-Am championship in a game Charter carried live last summer on WCTR-3, the system's local channel. Also new are the Worcester Sharks, an American Hockey League team (affiliated with the NHL's San Jose Sharks), whose first season begins this October.

Charter Communications Massachusetts MAYOR MURRAY ON CHARTER TV

Charter Communications Massachusetts WCTR-3 should help keep the local cable operator in a positive light as the city peruses proposals for the master plan and renegotiates the franchise agreement. Since local programming director Michael Marcy took the helm in 2003, WCTR has expanded local news coverage, added live coverage of Tornadoes games and introduced a pair of weekly series featuring Mayor Murray, O'Brien and other elected officials. Most of WCTR's original content gets a second window through local video on demand, which premiered last spring.

Mayor Murray's half-hour show, The Mayor's Forum, spotlights city issues and personalities. Murray, O'Brien and some of their legislative colleagues often turn up on City That Reads, where they read selections from books. The show often covers literacy events at city libraries, schools and hospitals, where local celebrities get into the act. "We're showing how the city is finding itself again," Marcy says.

Charter's local programming "has a multiplier effect in building confidence and attracting more people and businesses to our city," Murray adds.

Comcast Spotlight sells ad time for WCTR, as well as for 41 other channels running on  Charter Communications Massachusetts Worcester system. Ad sales for the service were up in 2005 over 2004, mostly owing to the addition of Tornadoes' games, Marcy says.

Spain, meanwhile, is confident charter internet service will continue to be one of the prime movers behind Worcester's regeneration. "The relationship is good and we'll have both sides happy with the result," he says of the upcoming franchise negotiations.