Since Thomas Rutledge was hired on as CEO at Charter Communications, a steady stream of his former colleagues from Cablevision’s executive suites have followed him to his new employer.

This week, James Nuzzo announced his departure from Cablevision, taking the position of executive vice president for business planning at Charter.

Nuzzo will report to Charter chief operating officer, John Bickham, and will oversee business planning for the company, working with the field operations, customer care, marketing, network operations, technology and product teams.

“Jim’s extensive background and experience in the cable industry makes him the ideal choice to lead Charter’s Business Planning efforts,” said Bickham. “During his time at Cablevision, Jim was instrumental in building a highly effective Business Planning organization and I am confident he will provide Charter the same great leadership.”

Bickham should know as he served as president of cable & communications at Cablevision until Rutledge hired him away to join him at Charter in 2012.

Nuzzo has been with Cablevision since 1986, so his sudden choice to leave, along with other long-time Cablevision executives, continues to fuel speculation Cablevision won’t be around much longer, especially if Comcast successfully wins approval to acquire Time Warner Cable. Of course, Wall Street analysts have made similar predictions for years without anything to show for it.

The Dolan family has controlled Cablevision since its start in 1973. The company used to own cable systems scattered across the country, mostly serving suburban and rural areas outside of its core northeastern service area in the tri-state region of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. At its peak in the mid-1990s Cablevision offered service to 2.9 million subscribers in 19 states, but eventually refocused attention on the tri-state, selling its other cable properties further afield.

Today, Charter resembles Cablevision in the 1990s — willing to grow and expand beyond the cable systems it already owns.

Helping them accomplish that includes these former Cablevision executives hired by Charter this spring:

• Jim Blackley, executive vice president of engineering;
• Catherine Bohigian, executive vice president of government affairs;
• Jon Hargis, chief marketing officer;
• Kathleen Mayo, executive vice president of customer operations;
• Gary Schanman, executive vice president;

Rutledge himself used to be Cablevision’s chief operating officer but left for Charter in 2011.