Charter Communications, Madison’s largest cable television provider, intends to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy by April 1, the company announced in a statement Thursday.

Chapter 11 will allow the company to reorganize its financial state. Specifically, Charter and its subsidiaries have struggled to pay bond debt, and this plan will reduce Charter’s $21 billion of debt by $8 billion.

Charter spokesperson Andy Brimmer said the company’s plan will have no effect on operations or service.

The pre-planned filing will allow the company to be out of bankruptcy within 120 days, Brimmer said, and will eventually allow Charter to extend its services.

“By reducing the debt burden on the company there’s going to be more money that the company generates to put back into support operations,” Brimmer said.

Charter CEO Neil Smit said in the statement his company is “pleased” to have worked out a deal with its bondholders.

“We are committed to continuing to provide our 5.5 million customers with quality cable, Internet and phone service, and through this agreement we will be even better positioned to deliver the products and services our customers demand now and in the future,” Smit said.

In recent years, St. Louis-based Charter has gone through an operational restructuring. Brimmer said the recent economic downturn has forced Charter to go through an economic restructuring as well.

“The capital plan itself was put together over the years under different economic environments,” Brimmer said.

The plan will pay all trade creditors in full by the end of Charter’s bankruptcy, which Brimmer called “unusual” for a company entering Chapter 11.

However, Charter noted it would not have to comply with the agreement-in-principle if doing so would trigger any sort of default.

Despite that over half of the company’s $21 billion in debt will mature by 2013, Charter believes it will have sufficient cash available.

Charter currently has $800 million in cash on hand, according to the statement.

Listed on the NASDAQ, Charter’s stock fell to 3 cents a share Thursday, or nearly half its opening value.

The stock neared $5 in July 2007, its highest value since 2004, but has fallen drastically since. It hit a high of over $26 a share in 1999, the year the company went public and the last year it turned a profit.

Smit will remain CEO of the St. Louis-based Charter through the bankruptcy proceedings.