Cox broadband sub losses were worse than expected – analyst

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(Source: Kristoffer Tripplaar/Alamy Stock Photo)

Roughly eight weeks after the Charter-Cox merger closed, the combined company – now branded as Spectrum – released pro forma numbers related to the transaction. Those figures shed more light on Cox's recent lackluster results while highlighting the opportunity ahead for the newly combined company as it starts to extend Charter's pricing and packaging into the former Cox markets.

While it's not surprising that Cox, like the rest of its cable peers, has been losing broadband subscribers, the pace of those losses was greater than expected, New Street Research said in its analysis (registration required) of the numbers.

Cox shed 316,000 broadband subscribers in Q2 2026, up from a year-ago loss of 238,000 and a loss of 289,000 subs in Q1 2026. By comparison, legacy Charter, a much larger operator, lost 172,000 broadband subs in Q2 2026 and shed 120,000 in Q1 2026.

On a year-to-year basis in Q2, Cox's broadband base declined by 5.2% versus a decline of 1.8% for legacy Charter.

Related:Spectrum COO Nick Jeffery starts making changes

"The subscriber metrics [at Cox] aren't pretty, but we all knew that. Broadband subscriber losses are slightly higher than we expected," New Street Research analyst Vikash Harlalka wrote. "The y/y change in Cox's broadband subscriber base is nearly 3x legacy Charter."

Harlalka noted that this gap makes some sense given the higher broadband average revenue per user (ARPU) in the former Cox markets. Broadband ARPU at Cox, he pointed out, has trended down to about $86 in recent quarters, while Charter's ARPU, which has been rising, was in the range of just $68 to $70 over the same period.

Speaking at an investor conference in September, Spectrum CEO Chris Winfrey noted that the company saw a "sales uplift" in the former Cox markets ahead of the recent Spectrum branding overhaul and the introduction of new products and packages, including an offer of a free Spectrum Mobile line for a year. He didn't provide any specific figures at the time. Spectrum is scheduled to report Q3 2026 results on November 6.

Massive mobile gap

The numbers also show a big customer disparity between legacy Charter's Spectrum Mobile service and Cox Mobile, which was launched across the Cox footprint in early 2023.

Cox added 33,000 mobile lines in Q1 2026, for a total of 400,000 lines. Legacy Charter added 406,000 mobile lines in that period, extending its total to 12.54 million. At the end of Q2, the pro forma company had 12.94 million mobile lines.

Turning to revenues, Harlalka noted that Cox has been seeing a drop of about 4% in the periods presented (the pro forma filing goes back to Q1 2024), compared to an average revenue decline of 1% for legacy Charter.

Related:'Spectrum Day' is underway in former Cox markets

Can new COO Nick Jeffery move the needle?

It is, of course, too early to know how the introduction of Spectrum's pricing and packaging will improve the situation in the former Cox markets. But Harlalka said the data indicates that "Charter can teach Cox some new tricks" and presents an opportunity for new COO Nick Jeffery, who led turnarounds at Frontier Communications and Vodafone UK.

Jeffery recently implemented a "simpler, flatter, operating structure" at Spectrum as he looks to help the company return to broadband subscriber growth, improve net promoter scores (NPS) and more broadly embark on what he called "The Great Cable Comeback."

Spectrum has not detailed what other changes Jeffery has in store for Spectrum, but Harlalka noted that he "has his work cut out" for him.

"Given his [Jeffery's] track record at Frontier, we would be surprised if he doesn't have at least some impact on these trends" in the former Cox markets, the analyst added.

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