Charter Communications Inc. (Nasdaq NM:CHTR), the third-largest U.S. cable television company, said on Tuesday it plans "significant" job cuts to lower costs amid a dwindling subscriber base and mounting debt.

　　注：cable television:有线电视 dwindle:缩小

　　美国第三大有线电视公司宪章传播公司(纳斯达克上市代码：CHTR)周二表示，用户数量的不断减少和日益增加的债务使公司准备大幅裁员以削减成本。

　　The news comes as a federal grand jury reportedly stepped up its inquirysintoshow Charter accounts for its subscribers -- a key figure that Wall Street uses to value cable companies.

　　注：grand jury:大法官 step up:加速 account for:解释，说明，文中翻译成负担。

　　消息起因于一位联邦大法官，据报道，他不断加紧质询宪章公司(在负债如此高的情况下)如何仍能支持其用户，而这也是华尔街衡量有线公司的一个主要指标。

　　The company did not provide details of how many employees would lose their jobs, but Chief Executive Carl Vogel said the cuts would involve the closure of its 10 regional operations.

　　注：closure:关闭

　　公司没有提供裁员的具体数量，但是首席执行官卡尔.弗格表示裁员将引起公司10个地区子公司的关闭。

　　"We need to take out a number of middle management layers and get us, the senior management, much closer to the customer," Vogel told analysts at an investor conference.

　　注：layer:阶层

　　弗格在一次投资会议上告诉分析师们："我们需要裁掉一部分中层管理人员，从而把公司高层管理人员和用户的距离拉的更近一些。"

　　He added that the total number of job cuts would be disclosed at the end of the year. Savings from the restructuring efforts will be announced in February, Charter said.

　　注：restructure:重组

　　他同时表示裁员的总数量将在年底公布。宪章公司称，此次重组带来的成本减少将在(明年)二月公布。

　　The company -- which is controlled by Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq NM:MSFT ) co-founder Paul Allen -- currently employees 18,700 people.

　　公司目前共有18700名雇员，由微软(纳斯达克上市代码：MSFT)的共同创始人保罗.艾伦控股。

　　Charter has spent billions on acquisitions and upgrading its systems over the last several years in an effort to compete with satellite TV. But the company has lagged behind cable rivals like Comcast Corp (Nasdaq NM:CMCSA - news) and Cox Communications Inc (NYSE:COX - news) in its upgrades. At the same time the company has run up over billion worth of debt.

　　注：acquisition:并购 upgrade:升级 lag:落后

　　过去几年里，宪章公司在并购和公司系统升级上投入了几十亿美元，以期和卫星电视(的产业对手)竞争。但是在有线电视方面，却落后于像康卡斯特公司(纳指：CMCSA)和考克斯公司(纳指：COX)之类的对手。同时公司的债务已经飚升至180亿美元。