Who Owns the Media: Charter

Charter Communications 🐔

Capitulation Rank: Vulnerable
Category: Telecommunications 
Market Cap: $52.41 billion

In November 2024, Charter announced it had agreed to acquire Liberty Broadband as part of an all-stock transaction. Charter CEO Chris Winfrey hammered out the deal with Liberty’s John Malone, who was once known as “The King of Cable” and as a champion of media consolidation (see Warner Bros. Discovery).

Malone suggested at the time that Charter should take advantage of the incoming Trump administration — with its pro-consolidation bent — to merge with media conglomerate Comcast. More recently, though, Charter has set its sights on Cox Communications, announcing in May that the two businesses would combine into one massive media company, creating the largest broadband provider in the country, in addition to offering mobile and video entertainment services.

Charter is clearly pursuing an aggressive acquisition strategy. And any such mergers would need to run the gauntlet of regulatory approvals, at a time when federal agency heads — like the FCC’s Brendan Carr and the FTC’s Andrew Ferguson — have made the scrubbing of DEI policies a condition for their sign off on any deal (see Verizon’s takeover of Frontier). If Charter acquiesces in a similar way, its chicken-head rating will likely increase from one to two.

DEI Doublespeak:

Charter Communications maintains a public commitment to diversity and Inclusion. On its website, it states that Charter’s workforce “reflects the diversity of the markets, communities, and customers” that it serves.

What It Owns:

Charter offers wired and wireless telecommunications, along with cable-TV services, to 57 million locations in 41 U.S. states under the Spectrum Internet, Spectrum Mobile and Spectrum TV brands. It owns broadcast and cable-television networks (including NY1, Spectrum News, Spectrum SportsNet and SportsNet New York); other businesses include Adlink Cable Advertising, BHN Home Security Services, Insight Capital, Insight Media, LEVL Technologies and Spectrum Reach.

Money & Influence Game:

Charter paid lobbyists $10,870,000 in 2024, and Charter employees made $3,811,401 in contributions to political candidates (2024 cycle). (SOURCE: Center for Responsive Politics)