Charter Looking to Buy Cox Communications

Internet providers have been selling bundles with Internet, Cable TV and phone service for years. More and more they are bundling the companies. Charter bought two other big cable companies last year. AT&T is trying to buy Time Warner, the media company. Verizon just bought AOL and Yahoo. Comcast bought NBC/Universal a while back.

Even though they haven’t totally digested Time Warner Cable and The Bright House Networks but Charter, the second largest cable TV company seems to be making overture toward Cox Cable, the third largest cable television company in the US. Time Warner and Time Warner Cable were two different companies. Time Warner Cable sold cable and Time Warner owns studios like Warner Brothers along with HBO and DC Comics. Time Warner Cable was absorbed by Charter.

Cox has bundles that include television, Internet and phone service and also Charter has bundles of Internet, phone and cable TV so I don’t think there is any way the merger would help the customer. We would just have less competition and probably higher prices.

Cox is still owned be descendants of the Cox family, “Cox has been very clear and consistent that we are not for sale,“ said Todd Smith, a spokesperson for Cox.

Cox Contour now Integrates Netflix

Of course Cox Communications has Internet, TV and voice bundles but now Cox and Netflix have announced a Netflix integration on Cox Contour.  Watching Netflix movies and shows has never been easier. Customers can just tell the Cox Contour remote what they want. Cox customers that have a Netflix subscription can watch Netflix content, along with Cox's other programming like live TV, On Demand and DVR content. All this takes place within their Contour TV guide.

Netflix is excited to work with Cox Communications, "Cox Contour customers can now watch TV series, movies, comedy specials and documentaries from Netflix as easily as they watch live TV," said vice president of business development at Netflix Paul Perryman. "Through Contour's voice remote, they can access all of their favorite Netflix or live TV shows all in one place, without juggling remotes or cords."   


The full integration with the Cox Contour and Internet bundle means that finding and watching all of your favorite shows and movies is easy as pie. The Cox Contour remote can be used to:

•     Search for specific Netflix TV shows or movies using Contour voice remote
•     Choose the Netflix icon by simply saying "NETFLIX" to the voice remote
•     Discover and select Netflix titles from the Cox On Demand menu

Cox Internet and TV customers will need a Netflix membership to watch shows from Netflix. 

"Cox has supported Netflix subscribers for years with our high-speed internet service and now we're improving the experience by adding the Netflix service to the Contour TV guide," said president of Cox Communications, Pat Esser.  "Customers want to easily access the content they care about – across sources – anytime, anywhere; we'll continue to look for more ways to improve the video experience."

Cox Contour uses the X1 platform from Comcast which can now include Netflix's content library (with Netflix membership).  You can use the voice remote to change channels, find programs and movies, get recommendations and launch other apps by voice commands.  With the TV app you can get personalized traffic, weather and news. With the sports app you can see scores and other game statistics right on your television screen without any interruption to the game.    

Cox Communications Double and Triple Play Bundles

The Cox Communications triple plays start out at less than $100.00 and offer great value with features like speeds of up to 300 Mbps, cloud storage, Spam Blocker, Cox Security Suite Plus and access to over 500,000 Cox WiFi hotspots. Cox voice gives you unlimited local calling and useful calling features like caller ID, call waiting and automatic redial. 

Free HD, access to pay per view movies and TV shows and digital music channels come with many of the Cox Triple Play and Double Play Bundle packages with Cox Contour television. 

Cox Homelife security is also available bundled with other Cox services. Of course, in addition to the hundreds of TV channels to choose from, Cox Contour TV can include HBO, Cinemax, Showtime and the other major premium channels so you can watch shows like Silicon Valley and Game of Thrones. Of course there are also lots of sports programming so you can root for your favorite team.

Cox has been in the cable television business for over fifty years. James M Cox started buying small cable companies in 1962. Cox Communications is currently privately owned by the Cox family and is owned by the same company that owns AutoTrader, ValPak and Kelley Blue Book.

Cox Communications offers cable Internet service to over 20 million people in 18 states, making Cox the fourth biggest cable Internet service provider of in the United States.

Cox Trivia – Did you know that Cox Communications was the first cable company to offer phone service to its customers?