> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://broadbandbreakfast.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Charter Closes Cox Acquisition - URL: https://broadbandbreakfast.com/charter-closes-cox-acquisition/ - Published: 2026-08-20T19:45:28.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-30T21:49:17.000Z - Description: The company will offer Cox subscribers a free mobile line for one year - Author: Jake Neenan - Tags: mergers, Charter, Cox Communications, Chris Winfrey, Alex Taylor, #with-siderail WASHINGTON, Aug. 20, 2026 – Charter closed its $34.5 billion acquisition of Cox communications Thursday, creating the largest cable ISP in the country. The combined company, which will go by Cox Communications but use Charter’s Spectrum branding, will have more than 35 million broadband subscribers and more than 70 million passings. [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/29/97/29976d9d-89ea-4c77-8c0b-0e8a0eafed35/content/images/2026/08/250150_course_graphic_YT_wordmark_title-1.png)](https://broadbandbreakfast.com/course-interest) [***Sign Up for FREE for First Two Modules**](https://broadbandbreakfast.com/course-interest) [Sign Up for FREE for Section A ](https://broadbandbreakfast.com/course-interest) That’s based on Charter's public filings and Cox figures that the companies disclosed in May 2025 when the deal was announced. A Charter spokesperson declined to share updated numbers Thursday. On a call with reporters, Charter CEO **Chris Winfrey** said the company would offer a free mobile line for one year to existing Cox customers. Charter should start offering its products and pricing plans in the Cox footprint in mid to late September, Winfrey said. Bundling fixed and mobile broadband is [an important part](https://broadbandbreakfast.com/charter-down-172-000-broadband-subs/) of Charter’s plans to mitigate broadband subscriber losses. Cox did have a mobile service, but it had very few subscribers, leaving the footprint ripe for Charter to start increasing bundles with the free line promotion. “They’ve not had the benefit of the pricing that we have and some of the capabilities we have in mobile,” Winfrey said. “I think that will act as an accelerant for internet there.” He said video services were underpenetrated in the Cox footprint too, which should also help. Charter has mitigated what were once huge video subscriber losses with a pay-TV and streaming app. Winfrey said the margins on that weren’t great because of programming costs, but the company is still hoping it will help retain customers that subscribe to it. Charter is planning to switch to the Cox name within one year. As part of the merger, Cox’s former parent company, Cox Enterprises, owns about 26 percent of Charter, the company said in a release. Charter also closed its deal with Liberty Broadband Thursday. Charter bought back its stock that Liberty already owned, also about 26 percent of the company, and took on about $1 billion of Liberty’s debt. Liberty spun off its Alaska-based ISP GCI into a separate company as part of the deal. Cox Enterprises CEO **Alex Taylor** will become chairman of Charter’s board, the companies said. Cox Enterprises also appointed two of its board members to Charter’s 13-person board. The combined company will keep its Stamford, Conn. headquarters, but Winfrey said it would maintain “a significant presence” in Atlanta, where Cox was based. ### *California, network upgrades* Winfrey said Charter was launching a new sports network in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, which will air LA Dodgers games. The California Public Utilities Commission was the last regulatory body to approve the Charter-Cox deal, and the companies were able to combine just a week after the agency unanimously [voted to allow](https://broadbandbreakfast.com/cpuc-approves-34-5-billion-charter-cox-merger/) the merger. The agency imposed a suite of conditions on the deal, like spending $275 million on network upgrades and making a $20 plan available to low-income households. Asked about network upgrades in Cox’s footprint, Winfrey said Carter was “not in a rush” to upgrade the company’s infrastructure. He said Cox was “pretty far along” in mid-split upgrades and had done some faster high-split upgrades. Mid-split cable technology can get upload speeds of 300 megabits per second (Mbps) and gigabit download speeds, which he said was more than serviceable for current use cases. “Most of the Cox modems in the marketplace today are set at mid-split,” Winfrey explained. “So, to the extent you went and did high-split in Cox, it would really be for new modems for new customers on the increment.” He said the company would finish high-split upgrades in its Charter footprint next year. ### *Layoffs?* Asked whether there would be layoffs as a result of the merger, Winfrey said they would be minimal. “Of course there will be reduction of the same type of titles and overhead, but that’s a de minimis part of the overall company,” he said. “There will be some of that as a natural part of the transaction, but it’s not going to be affecting the front line. If anything, we’re investing in service and sales.” He said there weren’t plans to cut pay or hours for local technical and sales teams. He said there also weren’t concrete plans around call centers, but noted the company committed to bring Cox’s offshore call center work to the U.S. as a condition of federal approval of the deal. Earlier this summer Charter laid off network [operations teams](https://broadbandbreakfast.com/charter-to-let-go-of-112-spectrum-employees-in-texas/) in Missouri and Texas, shedding about 200 jobs. In March, the company closed a 300-person [call center](https://broadbandbreakfast.com/charter-closing-appleton-wis-call-center-in-may/) in Wisconsin.