Charter Communications is in the final stages of combining its operations with Cox Communications on paper and expects its $34.5 billion acquisition of the company to formally close on Thursday, multiple sources confirmed to The Desk this week.
The closure of the deal comes about a week after Charter and Cox secured needed approvals from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), which was the final hurdle before the merger could complete.
Once closed, the deal will create the largest land-based telecommunications company in the United States by locations passed, with the combined Charter-Cox reaching more than 43 million residents, businesses and other places. By comparison, peer telecommunications company Comcast reaches more than 38 million active and prospective customers.
Charter will begin operating as Cox Communication from Thursday onward, but the combined company will continue to sell residential and business service under the Spectrum brand. All current Cox customers will migrate over to Spectrum’s television, broadband and phone products in the coming weeks and months.
Charter CEO Christopher Winfrey will hold a press conference Thursday afternoon to discuss the impacts of the merger on customers and other matters, according to a statement sent to reporters this week.
“This transformative deal will benefit millions of consumers who will soon have access to greater value and opportunities to save, including our fully converged mobile-broadband bundle savings guarantee, combined with our industry-leading Customer Commitment and the 100 percent U.S.-based sales and service employees Spectrum is known for,” the company said in a statement.
The merger did not come without a few commitments, particularly in California, where regulatory scrutiny spanned several months and was far from certain. There, the newly-formed Cox has committed to spending hundreds of millions of dollars on network upgrades, at least $30 million on digital inclusiveness programs and bill credit guarantees during network disruptions.
The new Cox will also offer free broadband and Wi-Fi services to nearly five dozen eligible community programs and organizations, according to a statement from the CPUC, and the company will have to offer impoverished residents access to low-cost broadband plans with network equipment included. Cox also cannot charge California residents fees associated with upgrading or downgrading their TV service — though prices can be adjusted based on the costs of those plans — and cannot charge customers based on their preferred method of returning TV equipment to the company when service is downgraded or cancelled.
The combined company is expected to maintain its corporate headquarters in Connecticut where Charter is currently based. Cox’s existing hub in Atlanta will continue to operate while the integration of its team with the rest of the Spectrum business units carries forward in the coming months.
