Charter Communications Inc.'s St. Louis headquarters continues to serve as a landing zone for former Cablevision Systems Corp. executives.

John Bickham, most recently the president of Cablevision's cable unit, was named COO of Charter on Tuesday, becoming the third former Cablevision exec to join the other MSO in recent months. Cablevision's ex-COO, Tom Rutledge, left last December to then quickly land as president and CEO of Charter. Jonathan Hargis, Cablevision's former executive VP of marketing, was reunited with Rutledge in April when he was named Charter's executive VP and chief marketing officer.

Bickham's appointment became effective Monday (April 30). He'll manage operations for Charter's footprint, which currently serves about 4.1 million video customers and 10.87 million homes passed.

Why this matters
Bickham's appointment clears the cobwebs from what's been a vacant COO spot. The last person to hold that title was Mike Lovett, who rose to president and CEO in April 2010 before setting his exit plan last fall. (See Charter CEO to Step Down .)

Bickham's appointment could spark rumors that other former Cablevision execs may land at Charter as well. Other recently departed Cablevision execs include Executive VP of Corporate Engineering and Technology James Blackley and Executive VP of Consumer Operations Kathleen Mayo.

Also joining the exec exodus is John Trierweiler, Cablevision's executive VP of product management, who left Cablevision in January, according to Multichannel News.

For more

• Engineering EVP Latest Exec to Exit Cablevision
• Ex-Cablevision COO Becomes Charter CEO
• What's Next for Cablevision?
• Cablevision COO Resigns

— Jeff Baumgartner, Site Editor, Light Reading Cable