 Logo used since January 2019 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Telecommunications |
| Founded | February 1962; 63 years ago (1962-02) |
| Headquarters | 6205 Peachtree Dunwoody Rd.,Atlanta,GA 30328, U.S. |
Area served | Arizona,Arkansas,California,Connecticut,Washington, D.C.,Florida,Georgia,Idaho,Iowa,Kansas,Louisiana,Massachusetts,Nebraska,Nevada,North Carolina,Ohio,Oklahoma,Texas,Rhode Island,Virginia[1] |
Key people |
|
| Products | |
| Revenue | US$11 billion (2016)[2] |
Number of employees | 20,000 (2020) |
| Parent | Cox Enterprises |
| Website | www |
Cox Communications, Inc. (also known asCox Cable and formerlyCox Broadcasting Corporation,Dimension Cable Services andTimes-Mirror Cable), is an American digital cable television provider, telecommunications andhome automation services company. It is the third-largest cable television provider in the United States,[3] serving approximately 6.5 million customers. It is also the seventh-largest telephone carrier in the country, serving 3.5 million Internet subscribers[4] and almost 3.2 million digital telephone subscribers.[5] Cox is headquartered at 6205 Peachtree Dunwoody Rd inSandy Springs, Georgia, U.S., in theAtlanta metropolitan area.[6] It is a privately owned subsidiary ofCox Enterprises.
Cox Enterprises expanded into the cable television industry in 1962 by purchasing a number of cable systems inLewistown,Lock Haven andTyrone (all in Pennsylvania), followed by systems in California, Oregon andWashington. The subsidiary company,Cox Broadcasting Corporation (unrelated to theCox Media Group, which focuses onradio stations andtelevision stations), was not officially formed until 1964, when it was established as apublic company traded on theNew York Stock Exchange. The company was renamed to Cox Communications in 1982. It was taken private byCox Enterprises in 1985.[7][8]
In 1993, Cox began offering telecommunication services to businesses; it was the first multiple system cable operator to do so. This eventually grew into Cox Business, which now represents $1 billion in annual revenue. In 1995, Cox acquired theTimes-Mirror cable properties and as a result became a publicly traded company once again.[9][10]
In 1997, Cox became the first multiple system cable operator to offer phone services to customers following the 1996 Telecom Act. Two years later in 1999, Cox acquired the cable television assets ofMedia General in Fairfax County and Fredericksburg, Virginia.[11] In May 1999, Cox bought TCA Cable TV and its operations in Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana.[12] In July 1999, Cox acquiredAT&T Broadband's cable systems in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Utah and Nevada.[13] In August 1999, Cox sold systems inMassachusetts that served about 54,000 customers toMediaOne, in exchange for Cox acquiring MediaOne systems inConnecticut andRhode Island that served about 51,000 customers.[14][15] The following year, Cox Communications acquiredMultimedia Cablevision with assets in Kansas, Oklahoma and North Carolina.[16]
In 2004, theFairfax County Board of Supervisors found Cox Communications guilty of violating an agreement with the county which stated that all homes served by Cox within Fairfax County would be digital ready with the new fiber optic network by June 2003. When this term expired with less than 30% of the county having been completed, the Board of Supervisors decided to fine Cox $100 per day from the originally agreed completion date, until work was completed in January 2006. The Board also forbade Cox from raising rates to recover the cost of the fine for a period of 10 years from the actual completion date. The total fine was approximately $93,000.[17] Also in 2004, Cox Communications announced plans to take the company private once again, expressing frustration in the shareholder's emphasis on short-term goals.[10] The company was taken private for the second time in 2005.
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By November 1, 2005, Cox announced the sale of all of its Texas, Missouri, Mississippi and North Carolina properties, as well as some systems in Arkansas, California, Louisiana and Oklahoma to Cebridge Communications.[18] The sale closed in 2006 and those systems were transitioned by their new owner from Cox branding toSuddenlink Communications.[19][citation needed]
On May 14, 2007, Cox announced that they had sold their investment inDiscovery Communications for theTravel Channel, related assets, and $1.3 billion.[20]
In 2007, DiversityInc magazine named Cox Communications #25 in its Top 50 Companies for Diversity. Cox climbed to the sixth position on Diversity Inc.'s 2008 list.[21] Also in 2008, Cox was named #8 on the Top 10 Companies for African Americans.[22] Two years later, on November 19, 2010, Cox began offering wireless services in Orange County, California; Omaha, Nebraska; and, in Hampton Roads, Virginia.[citation needed]
In February 2011, Cox Communications completed its Alternative Energy Project[23] which included twofuel cell installations at each of the company's San Diego, CA and Rancho Santa Margarita, CA headquarters.[24] Two separatePureCell System 400 kilowatt installations will generate enough onsite power to reduce the company's dependence of the local power grid and decrease itscarbon footprint.[25]
In September 2011, Cox Home Security was added to their suite of products listed on their website.[26][conflicted source?] This new service uses advanced technologies similar to the home security products offered by other MSOs such asComcast.[citation needed]
In August 2013, Cox launched a new television platform known as Contour, which features recommendations and a user profile system across multiple devices.[27] In 2015, Cox licensedComcast'sXfinity X1 platform (which features more extensive integration of video streaming apps, and a voice control remote); it was deployed in 2016, maintaining the Contour naming. Cox stated that at least 1 million subscribers were on the X1-based Contour as of October 2017.[28][29]
In 2016, Cox Business reached 3 billion in annual revenue.[citation needed]
In August of 2018, Cox announced its acquisition of RapidScale, a managed and hybrid managed cloud services provider.[30]
On September 19, 2019, Cox introduced the Contour Stream player, based on Comcast's Xfinity Flex.[31]
In February 2023, it was announced Cox had acquired theNew York-headquartered managedcloud services company,Logicworks for an undisclosed sum.[32]
On May 16, 2025, Cox announced that it had reached an agreement to merge withCharter Communications; the agreement values the combined company at $34.5 billion. The combined company will operate under the Cox Communications name, but will adopt Charter'sSpectrum branding for consumer-facing operations.[33] Cox Enterprises will own 23% of the combined company, and replaceLiberty Media as the provider of long-term capital to Charter.[34]
Cox Communications Virginia created the philanthropic Cox Charities to annually provide grants to nonprofits serving youth. The organizations must have education programs that focus on science and technology, literacy, mentoring and other areas.[36] In the 2016-2017 program, 15 nonprofits received a total of $150,000.[36] They were:
Other state branches of Cox Communications also donate money annually through a Community Investment Grant program. The money comes from employees and goes to 501(c)(3) organizations. The organizations will differ from state to state, and year to year, but usually also have a focus on education, technology, social issues, and the arts.[37] These programs can be found in Oklahoma (nearly $165,000 in 2017),[37] Arkansas (nearly $100,000 in 2017),[38] Nebraska and Iowa (nearly $90,000 in 2017),[39] and the Southeast region, including parts of Louisiana, Florida's Gulf Coast, Central Florida and Middle Georgia.[40]
In 2004, Cox Enterprises announced its intention to purchase those shares of Cox Communications which it did not already own. A $6.6 billiontender offer was completed in December of that year, and Cox Communications has been a wholly owned subsidiary ever since.[41] This was the second time Cox Communications was taken private by Cox Enterprises.
Cox distributes standard definition and high-definition cable television programming, includingDigital Cable.[42][conflicted source?] Cox launched Digital Cable on its Orange County system in 1997. In February 2008, Cox started to implementswitched digital video (SDV) technology in some of their markets.[43] In late 2014, Cox started notifying customers in theirConnecticut market that they would be moving to an All Digital Video platform, requiring a small digital adapter (termed aCox Mini-Box) for televisions that were previously connected to an analog only signal.This same notification was extended to all other major markets in 2016.
Cox offersdigital video recorder service, provided usingMotorola,[44]Scientific-Atlanta,Cisco, or previouslyMoxi[45] equipment depending on the local market.
Cox offersvideo on demand service in the majority of its markets under the nameOn Demand. On Demand offerings are fairly standardized, portal-based, and carry VODnets likeThe Ski Channel, and includes HD offerings and replays of major network series.[46]
As of 2013, Cox offers cable internet service to over 21.8 million people across 18 states, making it the 4th largest provider of cable internet service in the US (based on coverage area).[47][1]
Cox offers five levels of high-speed Internet in all of its markets: Starter (10 Mbit/s download/1 Mbit/s upload), Essential (50 Mbit/s download/3 Mbit/s upload), Preferred (150 Mbit/s download/10 Mbit/s upload), Ultimate (300/500 Mbit/s download/10 Mbit/s upload), and Gigablast (900 Mbit/s download/35 Mbit/s upload via coax and 1000 Mbit/s download/1000 Mbit/s upload via fiber). In certain markets they also offer two financial assist plans one being Straight Up, and the other Connect 2 Compete. Cox initially launched high-speed Internet in 1996 in its Orange County infrastructure.[48] Cox licensed the PowerBoost technology fromComcast in 2007 and offers it on the Preferred, Premier, and Ultimate levels of service.[49] Top service download speeds are between 15 and 300 Mbit/s.
Cox High Speed Internet won the PC Magazine Readers' Choice Award for High Speed Internet in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, and 2011.[54] In 2014, Cox announced they would begin offering 1 Gbit/s internet speeds under the name "G1GABLAST" inPhoenix,Las Vegas andOmaha, with plans to begin offering it in the rest of their service areas by the end of 2016. They also announced that they would double internet speeds for all customers at no cost at the same time. They began rolling out the new speeds in Phoenix in early October of the same year.[55]
In fall 2016, Cox first launched its Panoramic WiFi service inSan Diego,Orange County andSanta Barbara, and it became available nationwide on June 13, 2017.[56]
Cox offers telephone service in the majority of its services areas. Various technologies, including circuit switched and hybrid VoIP systems, are used depending on service areas.[57] Cox has won multipleJ.D. Power and Associates awards for its telephone service.[58]
In 2010 Cox started offering a range ofHome Automation and Security service to customers in itsTucson, Arizona market as a trial. In 2011, this product was expanded to Cox's entire Arizona market, and was rolled out to additional markets over the next couple of years; it was then renamed as Cox Homelife in all markets. In December 2014, Cox Launched Cox Homelife in Louisiana.
Cox Business[59][conflicted source?] provides voice, data and video services for more than 260,000 small and regional businesses, including health care providers, K-12 and higher education, financial institutions and federal, state and local government organizations. According to Vertical Systems Group,[60] Cox Business is the fourth-largest provider of business Ethernet services in the U.S.-based on customer ports and the company ranked highest among small and mid-size business data service providers in J.D. Power and Associates telecommunications studies in 2006, 2008 and 2010.[citation needed] In 2013, Cox Business had the third largest business-facing enterprise by revenue (of cable providers who provide business services), with $1.2 billion in revenue as of the third quarter of 2013.[61]
Cox Business is an early adopter ofVoice over IP technology and, in 2007, Cox became the first cable provider in North America to deploy a fully owned and managed IP telephony service for businesses, Cox Business VoiceManager.[62][conflicted source?] Cox Business is expected to launch Managed IP PBX, SIP Trunking and IP Centrex services in 2011, allowing customers to more efficiently route voice traffic over Internet Protocol.[needs update] Cox Business currently[when?] supports more than 800,000 business phone lines.
Cox previously offeredmobile phone and wireless services in four United States markets including Orange County, California, Hampton Roads, Virginia, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Omaha, Nebraska. Cox marketed their wireless service as 'Unbelievably Fair' due to a wireless plan it offered which returned money for unused minutes which it called "Moneyback Minutes."[63] This allowed customers to receive up to $20 per month added back to their bill in the event that the customer had leftover minutes. Cox Wireless offered a full range of devices manufactured byMotorola,Samsung,HTC,Kyocera, andLG.
Cox Wireless utilizedSprint's voice and3G networks and also had planned to build out their own4GLTE network.[63]
On May 24, 2011, Cox Communications announced it would decommission its plans to build a 3G wireless network, and would instead offer Sprint service to half of its current footprint and operate as a SprintMVNO by the end of 2011.
On November 15, 2011, Cox Communications announced it would halt sales of all its wireless branded products and existing Cox branded wireless operations would be decommissioned by March 30, 2012. Cox eventually also retracted its plans to offer wireless services reselling Sprint service as an MVNO.[64]
On January 1, 2000, Cox was involved in a retransmission consent dispute withNews Corporation (the parent company of theFox broadcast network, now owned byFox Corporation), pulling four Fox owned-and-operated stations, after retransmission consent talks between News Corp. and Cox broke down, reportedly because Fox had denied permission for Cox to broadcast programming on its O&O stations unless Cox gave it two channel slots on its digital cable service. The affected stations wereWJW-TV in Cleveland, Ohio (now owned byNexstar Media Group),KTBC in Austin, Texas,KRIV in Houston, Texas, andKDFW in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, off its cable systems in those areas; another Fox O&OWHBQ-TV in Memphis (itself now owned byImagicomm Communications) was also pulled from itsJonesboro, Arkansas, system (of the mentioned systems; only theCleveland metropolitan area continues to be served by Cox; the Texas systems were later bought out byTime Warner Cable (nowSpectrum) andComcast; the Jonesboro system was sold toSuddenlink Communications in May 2006). The removal of those stations, which were temporarily replaced with premium serviceStarz! Family (which was made available to subscribers for free), blacked out Fox programming to 425,000 Cox customers. The blackout lasted six days as the two sides came to an agreement on January 6, and the Fox-owned stations were brought back to the systems. Cox gave $1 refunds of their January cable bill to roughly 90,000 subscribers in Texas and Arkansas as compensation.[65]
In a separate dispute (clumped with the above dispute by media outlets as the "Cox vs Fox" dispute) that occurred around the same time, customers inHampton Roads, Virginia lost access to LIN TV-owned Fox affiliateWVBT (channel 43) on January 1, 2000; retransmission talks between WVBT and Cox broke down, reportedly due to a demand by WVBT to be placed somewhere between channels 2 and 14 (it had been broadcast on channel 43). Cox refused to move WVBT to a lower channel number; the channel space was filled in the interim by pay channelHBO Family. It was not until February 5 of that year that the station resumed on Cox's Hampton Roads system (remaining on channel 43), after an agreement was reached during a ten-hour arbitration session.[66] Cox did not offer rebates to its 335,000 subscribers in Fairfax County, Virginia, andCleveland, Ohio, who also lost their Fox stations.
On January 29, 2016, seventeenNexstar Broadcasting stations were dropped by Cox after failing to reach a new retransmission deal. The contract had expired on December 31, 2015, but the two companies allowed talks to continue until January 22, 2016. The channels were replaced by a screen which accused Nexstar of "demanding a significant fee increase". In Las Vegas, where the dispute threatened to black outSuper Bowl 50 due to local CBS stationKLAS-TV being affected by the dispute, Cox announced on February 3, 2016, that it would offer a free preview of the game's Spanish-language broadcaster,ESPN Deportes, over Super Bowl weekend. The next day, Cox reached a new deal with Nexstar, and the stations were restored.[67][68][69]
In 2020, Cox lowered the upstream bitrates of entire neighborhoods from 35 Mbit/s to 10 Mbit/s, because they determined that individual users within the neighborhoods had excessive usage.[70]
On December 17, 2015, Cox was held responsible for the copyright infringements of its subscribers according to a ruling from a federal jury in theUnited States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. The ISP was found guilty of willful contributory copyright infringement and ordered to pay music publisherBMG $25 million in damages.[71][72] This verdict was reaffirmed by the judge on August 8, 2016.[73] On February 14, 2017, Cox was ordered to additionally pay $8.5 million in costs.[74] On November 7, 2016, Cox appealed to theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit[75] and on February 1, 2018, the court overturned the $25 million verdict due to erroneous jury instructions but upheld its loss of safe harbor protections due to not having a meaningful repeat infringer policy.[76] On August 27, 2018, before the case was scheduled to be tried for a second time, both parties agreed to a confidential settlement.[77]
On July 31, 2018, a billion dollar lawsuit was filed against Cox in the same court, before the same judge that handled the BMG case, by 53 record labels, includingSony,Universal, andWarner Brothers.[78] On December 19, 2019, the jury ruled against Cox and awarded $1 billion to the record labels.[79] On June 2, 2020, the judge ruled the jury's verdict is not excessive but also ruled that damages should be issued per work, not per copyright, as a single song, such as amashup, may have multiple copyrights.[80] However, on January 12, 2021, the court backtracked on this point because Cox did not raise it during the jury trial, and thus upheld the $1 billion verdict.[81] The case was appealed to the Fourth Circuit on May 24, 2021.[82] While pending, Cox filed an additional motion for relief with the district court on December 27, 2021, alleging concealed evidence that came to light in a separate lawsuit by the record labels againstCharter.[83] This motion was denied on March 23, 2022.[84] A ruling on the appeal to the Fourth Circuit is pending.
One of Cox's marketing trademarks is a fictional animated "spokesman" character named "Digital Max", used from 2005 through 2008.[85][86] The phasing out of Digital Max in 2008 was followed by the introduction of the "Digeez", little digital helpmates featured in many of Cox Communications' brand commercials until 2013. In 2023, Cox Mobile introduced a CGI sheep named Annie.[87]
Cox (#7) with 3,170,000 residential phone lines
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