How Charter, Cox merger affects the region
Charter and Cox Communications announced the closing of their mammoth merger, putting most but not all of the Tri-Counties under the Spectrum brand for broadband internet and entertainment services.
The merger will put Spectrum in some 70 million homes nationwide, adding South Santa Barbara County’s Cox operation to its operations in much of Ventura County and San Luis Obispo County. Comcast will continue to serve the greater Santa Maria Valley.
On a phone call with reporters, Charter CEO Chris Winfrey said the company expects a “smooth, thoughtful transition” with few changes to customer-facing operations. Because Charter uses “100% U.S. based employees” for customer service, it will gradually replace Cox offshore call center operations with American staff, Winfrey said.
He said that Charter has established a $50 million foundation to keep Cox’s commitments to nonprofit organizations and that Charter wants to “emulate the types of programs at Cox,” particularly when it comes to multi-year commitments. “One of the things we always admired about Cox was its commitment to community,” Winfrey said.
The Charter rollout includes one free line of wireless service for a year and some price reductions for both residential and business customers, beginning in mid-September. Bundling wireless and broadband has been an effective strategy for larger cable operators and in a statement Winfrey said the expanded Charter footprint to 45 states will give the combined company the kind of scale it needs to compete effectively in a rapidly changing market.
Based in Stamford, Connecticut, Charter is one of the nation’s largest cable companies along with Philadelphia-based Comcast. In response to a question from the Business Times, Winfrey said that a Charter-Comcast swap for the Santa Maria territory is unlikely in the near term.
“Swaps are complicated,” he said, adding that’ it is more likely that Charter and Comcast will cooperate on offering advertising and wireless services through their respective Spectrum and Xfinity platforms. Xfinity and Spectrum have agreed to give each other access to wifi access points, enhancing the appeal of their networks to j mobile users.
When it comes to advertising, Winfrey said, “we are competing against national competitors,” referring to the tech giants that dominate the digital advertising space.
Charter has committed to keeping a large presence in Atlanta, the hometown for Cox, but the campus there is likely to see some movement in staffing as core corporate staffs are consolidated. However, Winfrey said that the Cox Business unit is bigger than Spectrum’s business-to-business operation, offering an opportunity for growth, particularly in the hospitality industry.
When the dust settles, Winfrey said, frontline employees will see little change and customers should see lower prices. “Businesses of every size will benefit,” he said.
