Larry Rulison reported in the Times Union earlier this month that Charter Communications is being forced to spend approximately $15 million during the next few years to upgrade the cable TV and Internet system in and around Chatham as part of a deal with state regulators. The upgrades will cost about $6,000 per customer, and Charter must foot the entire bill. The upgrades are required as a condition of the state Public Service Commission’s approval last week of the company’s $55 billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable. Charter currently only serves two small pockets of customers in New York, including approximately 14,000 customers in Plattsburgh and 2,500 customers in Chatham and other parts of Columbia County. The company's Chatham system is notoriously antiquated according to Rulison, with analog TV service that does not support video on demand, and no Internet. A Charter spokesman said as a result of the merger the Chatham customer base can be connected to Time Warner Cable's network. The Time Warner merger deal is still awaiting federal approval. Read the full story in the Columbia Paper.