Cox Communications officially became Spectrum on Thursday after Spectrum’s parent company and Cox completed their $34.5 billion merger transaction, company officials said, changing the name behind one of the Las Vegas Valley’s largest internet and cable providers.
The merger significantly expands Spectrum’s presence in Nevada and creates the nation’s largest cable and broadband provider, with at least 35 million customers nationwide.
Existing Cox customers will not see immediate price changes because of the merger and will remain under their existing Cox pricing and packaging structure, according to Chris Winfrey, president and CEO of Spectrum’s parent company, Charter Communications.
But Winfrey cautioned he is not guaranteeing that rates will remain unchanged indefinitely because video programmers, for example, will eventually increase prices.
“We’re not looking to make any dramatic changes,” Winfrey said during a virtual call with media Thursday.
Spectrum already serves approximately 213,000 customers across 15 Northern Nevada communities, according to company spokesperson Susie Black-Manriquez. Cox’s Southern Nevada operations previously served multiple Clark County communities, including Las Vegas, Henderson, North Las Vegas and Boulder City.
Beginning Thursday, Cox internet customers who do not already subscribe to Cox Mobile are eligible for a free year of mobile service, according to Charter. And in mid-September, Spectrum plans to begin offering its full lineup of products, pricing and packages in all former Cox markets, company officials said.
Existing Cox customers will not be required to change plans, Winfrey said. But beginning sometime in September, he said, they will be able to switch to Spectrum plans that could lower their bills or keep them the same while adding services or other benefits, including multiple streaming apps like HBO Max at no extra cost.
Spectrum’s “average pricing of internet is much lower” than Cox, Winfrey said. “Mobile is lower, and video is also lower.”
Cox’s 10 Southern Nevada retail stores are now Spectrum stores, Black-Manriquez said.
What happens to former Cox employees?
Charter has said employees will earn a starting wage of at least $20 per hour and receive Spectrum benefits, including a 401(k) plan with a company match up to 6 percent of their eligible pay.
Winfrey said the merger is not expected to lead to layoffs, pay cuts or reduced hours for front-line local employees — including sales and service workers — in Southern Nevada and other former Cox markets, though some overlapping positions at the corporate level and other areas may be eliminated.
“For our front-line employees, in a lot of cases, there’ll be more chances for progression and higher pay. I can’t sit here and tell you that (layoffs) would never happen,” Winfrey said. “If anything, we’ll be increasing hours (and jobs) because we have a 24/7 service operating model.”
Winfrey added that some local and corporate employees may be reassigned to different functions or roles as the companies combine operations.
The Cox transaction closed after the California Public Utilities Commission gave the companies final regulatory approval last week. Charter had previously received regulatory approval from the Federal Communications Commission in February.
Charter expects about $500 million in annual cost savings within three years of the Cox transaction, primarily from procurement and overhead savings.
Within the next year, Charter officials have said it plans to change its corporate name to Cox Communications, but Spectrum will remain the consumer-facing brand across all of its markets.
Contact Lucas Hellberg at lhellberg@reviewjournal.com.
