Official announcements have confirmed that Charter Communications Inc.'s Chief Executive Officer Neil Smit has stepped down from the position to take up an offer put forward by the larger rival of Charter, Comcast Corp.

Charter, which is one the top-ranked US cable operators, had recently managed to come out of bankruptcy protection in November of 2009.

Bogged down by a whopping $21.7 billion debt load, the biggest US cable TV operator Charter Communications Inc, after having worked out the details of a so-called "pre-arranged" bankruptcy with some of its creditors, filed a Chapter 11 petition with the US Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan on Friday.

Charter Communications is all set to launch the fastest internet services in the US. The internet connection with a proposed speed of 60 Mbps has defeated the plans of Verizon and Comcast.