FCC approves the merger of cable giants Cox and Charter
The Federal Communications Commission has given the green light to the merger of two of America’s largest cable operators, Charter Communications and Cox Communications. Charter announced plans to acquire Cox for $34.5 billion in May 2025, with specific plans to inherit Cox’s managed IT, commercial fiber and cloud businesses, while consolidating the company’s residential cable service into a subsidiary.
“By approving this agreement, the FCC is securing big victories for Americans,” FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said in a statement. “This deal means jobs that had been shipped overseas are coming back to America. It means modern, high-speed networks will be built in more communities across rural America. And it means customers will have access to cheaper plans. On top of that, the deal enshrines protections against DEI discrimination.”
The FCC says Charter plans to invest “billions” to upgrade its network after the deal closes, which will lead to “faster broadband and lower prices.” The company’s “Rural Building Initiative” will also extend these improvements to rural states lacking consistent internet service, a project the FCC invested heavily in during the Biden administration but has backed away from since President Donald Trump nominated Carr. The FCC also says Charter will relocate jobs currently handled overseas by Cox employees and commit to “new safeguards to protect against DEI discrimination,” which essentially amounts to hiring, recruiting and promoting employees based on “skills, qualifications and experience.”
While Carr’s FCC paints a rosy picture of Charter’s acquisition, history provides numerous examples of mergers having the opposite effect on employment and prices. For example, layoffs created when T-Mobile merged with Sprint in 2020 led to a wave of layoffs at the carrier. And interestingly, in 2018, shortly after the FCC approved Charter’s merger with Time Warner Cable, the company raised prices for its Spectrum service by more than $91 per year.
The FCC’s obsession with diversity, equity, and inclusion as part of the deal is stranger, if only because it seems to run counter to the commission’s goal of maintaining fair competition in the telecommunications industry. This, however, is consistent with other mergers approved by the FCC under Carr. Skydance’s acquisition of Paramount was approved in 2025 on the condition that it establish no DEI programs.
