Home / Charter Communications News: Cox Merger & Market Moves

Charter Communications News: Cox Merger & Market Moves

By: Jasmin Espinas
May 18, 2025

Charter Communications is one of the largest cable and broadband providers in the United States. It serves over 28 million customers through its Spectrum brand and competes with companies like Comcast and AT&T. Recent Charter Communications news highlights the company’s efforts to keep customers from switching to wireless providers.

Latest Charter Communications News: Mega Deal Merger With Cox

On May 16, Charter Communications announced it would buy Cox Communications for $21.9 billion. This deal combines two of the country’s biggest cable and broadband providers. The goal is to compete more effectively with mobile carriers and streaming platforms, which have pulled customers away from traditional cable.

By merging, Charter hopes to improve its bundle options for internet, TV, and mobile. The company wants to keep users from switching to wireless internet plans from companies like T-Mobile. Last quarter, Charter’s bundled service strategy helped it beat revenue expectations.

Charter CEO Chris Winfrey will lead the merger. He said the deal will help improve services and keep prices competitive. The agreement also includes about $12.6 billion of Cox’s debt, which brings the total value of the deal to roughly $34.5 billion.

Once the deal closes, the merger will take the Cox Communications name, but Charter’s Spectrum brand will remain in use in consumer markets. Cox Enterprises will hold about 23% of the new company, and Cox CEO Alex Taylor will serve as chairman.

In connection with this deal, Liberty Broadband has agreed to accelerate the closing of its previously announced acquisition by Charter and is also supporting the Charter-Cox deal with its board votes.

When the Liberty transaction closes, its three board members on Charter’s board will step down.

Charter’s Q1 2025 Earnings

Last April 25, Charter announced its first quarter 2025 results.

Charter lost 60,000 internet customers during the first quarter of 2025, bringing its total internet base to 30 million. At the same time, the company added 514,000 mobile lines, ending the quarter with 10.4 million mobile users. Overall, Charter reported 31.4 million customer relationships, not counting mobile-only accounts.

Revenue for the quarter reached $13.7 billion, a small in crease of 0.4% compared to last year. Growth came mostly from mobile services, which rose by 33.5%. Residential internet also went up by 1.8%, and other services increased by 13.4%.

Charter’s adjusted EBITDA was $5.8 billion, up 4.8% from the previous year. Net income for shareholders totaled $1.2 billion.

CEO Chris Winfrey said the company will continue to focus on offering competitive internet and mobile services. He added that their current approach is working and expects strong financial performance to continue.

Broadband Subscriber Losses In Q4

On January 30, 2025, Charter reported losing 177,000 broadband customers during the last quarter of 2024. This number was worse than Wall Street’s estimate of 155,000 but was closer to Comcast’s expectations. For comparison, Comcast lost 139,000 subscribers, slightly more than the 100,000 it told investors to expect.

Charter remains the second-largest broadband provider in the U.S., with about 30.1 million subscribers.

Charter’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Jessica Fischer, explained the loss during a call with analysts. She said 140,000 of the dropped connections came from the end of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which stopped offering monthly internet discounts after May 2024. Another 20,000 losses were due to hurricanes that hit the Southeast.

The end of the federal program also made it harder for many households to keep their internet services. At the same time, more people switched to fiber and fixed wireless options, which made 2024 a tough year for cable companies.

Financial Restructuring: Charter’s Debt Strategies

On December 3, 2024, Charter updated its credit agreement to push back debt payments that were initially due in 2027. The new terms extend those payments to 2030 and 2031.

Charter also increased its revolving credit line by $960 million. This includes a new loan commitment of $5.5 billion that matures in 2030, along with $960 million in loans still set to mature in 2027.

In addition, Charter restructured its existing loans, turning part of that debt into $4.5 billion in loans maturing in 2030 and $2.5 billion in loans due in 2031. These changes came with updated interest rates.

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Outlook: What’s Next for Charter Communications?

Charter is aiming to hold its ground as more customers shift to wireless internet and streaming. The merger with Cox could help the company compete by giving it more reach and better pricing power. Whether this deal delivers the results Charter hopes for will depend on how well it can keep customers and expand mobile use.

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