Charter Communications and Cox Communications have completed a $34.5 billion merger that creates the world’s largest cable operator, with about 70 million homes and businesses passed and roughly 38 million customers across 45 US states.
The deal’s closing comes just days after the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) approved it with an array of conditions, following months of negotiations that delayed the deal by more than two months. The FCC approved the transaction in March.
A view of the combined Charter-Cox footprint. (Source: Cox/Spectrum)
Charter also said today that it has completed its previously announced acquisition of John Malone’s Liberty Broadband. That transaction includes Liberty Broadband’s 26% stake in Charter, but not GCI, Alaska’s largest cable operator. Liberty Broadband spun off GCI in July 2025.
“The combination of Charter and Cox creates a stronger, more competitive company to further invest and innovate, while giving Liberty Broadband shareholders a direct interest in its future,” Malone, Liberty Broadband’s chairman, said in a statement.
At the close, Cox Enterprises and its subsidiaries now own approximately 26% of the combined company’s fully diluted shares outstanding. About $12 billion of Cox debt and finance leases will remain outstanding at subsidiaries of Charter as a result of the transaction.
In a recent analysis (registration required) of the latest numbers, MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett noted that Cox will represent 18% of the new company’s revenue and 19% of its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), before synergies.
Cox corporate name paired with Spectrum branding
Charter and Cox confirmed today that within a year the combined company will become Cox Communications, operating under the Spectrum brand across all markets. Cox/Spectrum will be headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, and will retain a “significant presence” in Atlanta, Cox’s long-time headquarters city, according to a press statement.
Charter’s exec team, including President and CEO Chris Winfrey (who is also a board member of the combined company), will lead Cox/Spectrum. Alex Taylor, the chairman and CEO of Cox Enterprises, has been appointed chairman of the new company.
Eric Zinterhofer, who previously served as chairman of Charter’s board, will now serve as the lead independent director of the new company’s 13-member board. Cox Enterprises has appointed Dallas Clement, president and COO of Cox Enterprises, and Mark Greatrex, the former president of Cox Communications, to the new company’s board.
Pricing and packaging moves
Alongside the use of the Spectrum brand, the new company will move to extend Charter’s pricing and packaging to the Cox footprint by mid-September.
To kick things off, Spectrum said it is offering a free year of mobile service to Cox home broadband customers who don’t already subscribe to Cox Mobile (both Cox Mobile and Spectrum Mobile have MVNO deals with Verizon).
Spectrum will also provide Cox subs with access to video products developed under Charter. That includes access to the Xumo Stream Box and a pay-TV offering that provides access to several ad-supported streaming services, including Disney+, Hulu, Discovery, HBO Max, Fox One, Paramount+ and Peacock, for no additional cost. Cox subs will also get access to the Spectrum TV app, which is supported on web browsers, mobile devices, and several connected TVs and streaming devices, including those from Roku, LG Electronics, Samsung, Vizio, Google and Amazon.
Among other deal-related commitments to be implemented within the next year, Cox/Spectrum said Cox customers will gain access to a 100% US-based customer service team and will receive credits for outages that last longer than two hours.
Spectrum will transition all Cox offshore sales and service to the US within the next 18 months, Winfrey said in this letter to Cox customers.
Spectrum will also extend its sales and service workforce model to Cox markets, with all employees in line for a starting wage of at least $20 per hour and other benefits, including free or discounted Spectrum mobile, TV and Internet service and Spectrum’s employee stock purchase plan.
Spectrum has set up a website with deal-related FAQs for Cox customers.
Winfrey is expected to share more details about the going-forward plans when he speaks to media and analysts later today.
