Cox Communications is a privately owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises providing digital cable television and telecommunications services in the United States. It is the third-largest^[2] cable television provider in the United States, serving more than 5.9 million customers, including 2.9 million digital cable subscribers, 3.5 million Internet subscribers, and 2.2 million digital telephone subscribers.^[3] Its animated spokesman is named Digital Max. Image File history File links Unbalanced_scales. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... A private company is a company that is independently owned. ... Atlanta redirects here. ... James C. Kennedy is the CEO and chairman of Cox Enterprises, the media conglomerate founded by his grandfather, James M. Cox. ... Anne Cox Chambers (born December 1, 1919) is a billionaire media proprietor. ... Telecommunication involves the transmission of signals over a distance for the purpose of communication. ... Coaxial cable is often used to transmit cable television into the house. ... Broadband Internet access, often shortened to broadband Internet or just broadband is a high data-transmission rate Internet connection. ... IP Telephony, also called Internet telephony, is the technology that makes it possible to have a telephone conversation over the Internet or a dedicated Internet Protocol (IP) network instead of dedicated voice transmission lines. ... For the tax agency in Ireland of the same name, see Revenue Commissioners. ... Net income is equal to the income that a firm has after subtracting costs and expenses from the total revenue. ... Cox Enterprises is the successor to the publishing company founded in Dayton, Ohio, by James Middleton Cox, who began with the Dayton Daily News. ... This article is about work. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Look up slogan in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A website (alternatively, Web site or web site) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos or other digital assets that is hosted on one or several Web server(s), usually accessible via the Internet, cell phone or a LAN. A Web page is a document, typically written in HTML... Cox Enterprises is the successor to the publishing company founded in Dayton, Ohio, by James Middleton Cox, who began with the Dayton Daily News. ... Coaxial cable is often used to transmit cable television into the house. ... Digital Max as he normally appears in Coxs advertising campaigns. ...

History

Cox Enterprises expanded into the cable television industry in 1962 by purchasing a number of cable systems in Lewistown, Lock Haven and Tyrone, Pennsylvania, followed by systems in California, Oregon and Washington. The subsidiary company, Cox Broadcasting Corporation (later to be renamed), was not officially formed until 1964, when it was established as a public company traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Lewistown is a borough located on the Juniata River, 61 miles (98 km) northwest of Harrisburg in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania. ... Lock Haven is a city in and the county seat of Clinton CountyGR6, Pennsylvania, United States. ... Tyrone is a borough located in Blair County, Pennsylvania, 15 miles (24 km) northeast of Altoona, on the Little Juniata River. ... This article is about the U.S. state. ... This article is about the U.S. state. ... For the capital city of the United States, see Washington, D.C.. For other uses, see Washington (disambiguation). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), nicknamed the Big Board, is a New York City-based stock exchange. ...

In 2000 Cox Communications acquired Multimedia Cablevision with assets in Kansas, Oklahoma and North Carolina and Media General with assets in Fairfax County and Fredericksburg, Virginia.

On November 1, 2005, Cox announced the sale of all of its Texas, Missouri, Mississippi and North Carolina properties, as well as some systems in Arkansas, California, Louisiana and Oklahoma to Cebridge Communications. The sale closed in 2006 and those systems were transitioned by their new owner from Cox branding to Suddenlink Communications. Suddenlink Communications, formerly Cebridge Connections, is an American national cable television company that operates in more than 20 states in primarily suburban, small-town, and rural communities. ...

On May 14, 2007, Cox announced that they had sold their investment in Discovery Communications for the Travel Channel, related assets, and $1.3 billion.^[4] Discovery Communications LLC (DCI) is an American global media and entertainment company that began as a single channel, the Discovery Channel, launched in 1985. ...

Other business units

• Cox Business Services
• Cox Media
• Travel Media, Inc.
• Manheim Auctions
• Dent Wizard International

Privatization

In 2004, Cox Enterprises announced its intention to purchase those shares of Cox Communications which they did not own. A $6.6 Billion tender offer was completed in December of that year, and Cox Communications has been a wholly owned subisidary since. This represents the second time Cox has been taken private by Cox Enterprises.

Consumer Issues

The cable industry spends millions of dollars annually on government relationships.[1][2][3][4] Regularly this industry employs the spouses, sons and daughters of influential mayors, councilmen, commissioners, and other officials to assure its continued local monopoly and preferred market allocations, many of which have been questioned as unethical.[5]

The monopoly on cable television has historically been enforced by local governments. Cox maintains thousands of such de facto monopolies. In order to provide service to individual homes, a cable provider must place its cable wiring along and across local streets or other rights-of-way. To do so, the provider must get permission from the local government(s) that own those streets via rights-of-way permits.

Operational permission comes in the form of a document called a local franchise agreement. Most of local government(s) chose to grant permission to only one company, however, recently states have developed broader franchising laws to drive more investment and competition. Changes in the federal law in 1992 had forced local governments to grant permission to other companies to provide service, however the U.S. Government found in 2006 that only 2% of U.S. households had a competitive choice. In some cases Comcast, with municipal government approval, had entered into market allocation schemes. By agreeing to not compete head to head, consumers thus are perpetually locked into a single monopoly cable provider with annual price escalations reaching 93% in the past decade.[6][7][8][9]

A recent third party survey of citizens found approximately 62% of the respondents were very dissatisfied (along with another 25% who were dissatisfied) with the cost of cable television service. A majority of the respondents were satisfied with the friendliness and courtesy of customer service personnel, however, approximately 30% of the respondents rated the cable company's performance as poor. With regard to open-ended comments, respondents felt that the cost of the cable service was too high, a need for cable competition existed and the desire for a basic cable package offering was desired. Although respondents cited these critical issues, the local monopoly structure preserves the status quo of poor customer service, limited product choices, no direct competition and uncontrollable annual cable TV price increases. Relief for consumers is being created by state level a multi jurisdictional franchise and service process that will spur investment and competition; thus driving economic development sought by state and local government leaders.[10]

However, Cox is seen by many ^{[attribution needed]} as the leading cable company when it comes to customer service.^{[citation needed]} Cox's advantage is that it uses one customer-care provider, with U.S.-based centers, like Sykes Inc., though a majority are employee's who are in house, not contracted out. Rather than pushing agents to hurry customers off the phone and causing multiple call-backs, Cox strives to handle issues in a single call and grades agents on how well they eliminate problems. To avoid confusion, field technicians tap into the same system used by call-center representatives. Cox has even started a "geek squad" called Cox technical solutions to help customers with tech issues, whether they involve its gear or not.[11] Image File history File links Unbalanced_scales. ...

The industry strongly lobbies against federal "family tier" and "a la carte" bills that would give consumers the option to purchase individual channels rather than a broad tier of programming. These anti-consumer issues continue to garner attention from state governments, Congress and FCC Chairman Martin. [12]

OnDemand

Cox now offers in about 90 percent of their markets, OnDemand, their video on demand product. Cox OnDemand offers fewer programming options than rival companies such as Comcast. Options notably absent from Cox but available on Comcast include BBC America OnDemand, CBS OnDemand, and Fear.net OnDemand. Recently, they added HD video on demand in selected markets, although Cox hopes to have all markets OD-ready by 2Q 2008. BBC America is an American television network, owned and operated by BBC Worldwide, which was launched on March 29, 1998, available on both cable and satellite. ... This article is about the broadcast network. ...

Current markets that do not have OD available are:

• Arizona
• Middle Georgia
• Santa Barbara, California

Official language(s) English Spoken language(s) English 74. ... Middle Georgia refers to the area near the geographic center of the U.S. state of Georgia, mostly the metropolitan area surrounding the city of Macon. ... Nickname: Location in Santa Barbara County and the state of California Coordinates: , Country State County Santa Barbara Government  - Mayor Marty Blum Area  - Total 41. ...

Current systems

Arizona

• Phoenix Metro Area, which also services Coolidge, Casa Grande, Florence and Wickenburg.
• Tucson, which also services Sierra Vista, Green Valley, Benson, Tombstone, Willcox, Douglas, Ft Huachuca, Huachuca City, St David and Patagonia.

Nickname: Location in Maricopa County and the state of Arizona Coordinates: , Country State County Maricopa Incorporated February 25, 1881 Government  - Type Council-Manager  - Mayor Phil Gordon (D) Area  - City  515. ... Coolidge is a city located in Pinal County, Arizona. ... Casa Grande is a city located in Pinal County, Arizona. ... Florence is a town located in Pinal County, Arizona. ... Tucson (pronounced ) is the seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States, located 118 miles (188 km) southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles (98 km) north of the U.S.-Mexico border. ... Sierra Vista is a city located in Cochise County, Arizona. ... Green Valley is a census-designated place located in Pima County, Arizona. ... Benson is a city in Cochise County, Arizona, in the United States, 45 miles east-southeast of Tucson. ... Tombstone is a city in Cochise County, Arizona, USA, founded in 1879 in what was then the Arizona Territory. ... Willcox is a city in Cochise County, Arizona, United States. ... Douglas is a city in Cochise County, Arizona, USA. Douglas has a border crossing with Mexico and a history of mining. ... USAF security troops on a training exercise on Fort Huachuca. ...

Arkansas

Bentonville Also Services: Bella Vista, Bentonville, Cave Springs, Centerton, Gravette, Highlands, Hiwasse
Berryville Also Services: Beaver City, Berryville, Eureka Springs, Green Forest, Holiday Island
Fayetteville Also Services: Elkins, Farmington, Fayetteville, Goshen, Greenland, Lincoln, Prairie Grove, West Fork, Winslow
Fort Smith Also Services: Alma, Arkoma OK, Barling, Bonanza, Cameron OK, Cedarville, Central City, Chester, Dora, Dyer, Excelsior, Fort Smith, Greenwood, Hackett, Highway 71, Huntington, Jenny Lind, Kibler, Lake Alma, Midland, Mansfield, Lavaca, Mountainburg, Mulberry, Muldrow OK, Pocola OK, Rock Island, Roland OK, Rudy, Rye Hill, Sugarloaf area, White Bluff
Harrison Also Services: Bellefonte, Bergman, Dogpatch, Harrison, Valley Springs Rogers
Siloam Springs Also Services: Colcord, Decatur, Gentry, Siloam Springs, Watts, West Siloam Springs
Springdale Also Services: Bethel Heights, Goshen, Elm Springs, Johnson, Lowell, Sonora, Springdale, Tontitown

Van Buren Also Services: Van Buren, See also Fort Smith

California

• Orange County
• Palos Verdes
• San Diego (Coverage area included downtown, south bay, east county and northern communities such as Oceanside and Escondido]; the central portion of San Diego is covered by Time Warner Cable)
• Santa Barbara

Cities in Orange County Orange County is a county in Southern California, United States. ... Palos Verdes is often used to refer to a group of coastal cities on the Palos Verdes Peninsula in the Los Angeles/South Bay area of California. ... San Diego redirects here. ... Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) is an American national cable television company that operates in 27 states and has 31 operating divisions. ... Nickname: Location in Santa Barbara County and the state of California Coordinates: , Country State County Santa Barbara Government  - Mayor Marty Blum Area  - Total 41. ...

Florida

• Central Florida (Gainesville and Ocala)
• Gulf Coast (Pensacola, Fort Walton Beach, Shalimar, Mary Esther, Crestview, Destin, Niceville, Freeport, Miramar Beach, Eglin Air Force Base, Hurlburt Field, and parts of Cantonment and Santa Rosa Beach)

Location in Alachua County and the state of Florida Coordinates: , Country State County Alachua Incorporated (city) 15 April 1869 Government  - Type Council-manager  - Mayor Pegeen Hanrahan  - City Manager Russ Blackburn Area [1]  - Total 49. ... Nickname: Location of Ocala, Florida Coordinates: , Country United States State Florida County Marion County Area  - City  38. ... Nickname: Location in Escambia County and the state of Florida Coordinates: , Country State County Escambia Government  - Mayor John Fogg Area  - City 39. ... Fort Walton Beach is a city in Okaloosa County, Florida, United States. ... Shalimar is a town located in Okaloosa County, Florida. ... Mary Esther is a city located in Okaloosa County, Florida. ... Crestview, Florida from above. ... Destin is a city in Okaloosa County, Florida, commonly known as The Worlds Luckiest Fishing Village. ... Niceville is a city located in Okaloosa County, Florida. ... Freeport is a city located in Walton County, Florida. ... Miramar Beach is a census-designated place located in Walton County, Florida. ... Eglin Air Force Base is the home of the United States Air Force 96th Air Base Wing of the Air Force Materiel Command, and is also headquarters for more than 45 associate units. ... Hurlburt Field is a base of the United States Air Force located in Okaloosa County, Florida on the Eglin Air Force Base reservation immediately west of the Town of Mary Esther. ... Cantonment, Florida is a suburb north of Pensacola, Florida. ...

Georgia

• Middle Georgia (Macon, Warner Robins and surrounding areas)

Macon is a city located in central Georgia, USA. It is among the largest metropolitan areas in Georgia, and the county seat of Bibb County, It lies near the geographic center of Georgia, approximately 75 miles (129 km) south of Atlanta, hence the citys nickname as the Heart of... Warner Robins is the 9th largest city in Georgia, located in Houston County, Georgia and Peach County. ...

Idaho

• Sun Valley and surrounding areas

Ketchum is a city located in Blaine County, Idaho, USA. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 3,003. ...

Kansas

Andover, Crawford Co., Great Bend, Lyons, Riley, Ark City, Derby, Halstead, Maize, Rose Hill, Arma, Dearing, Haysville, Manhattan, Salina, Auburn, Dodge City, Hesston, McPherson, Saline Co., El Dorado , Hoisington, Milford, Sedgwick, Bel Aire, Erie, Humboldt, Mulvane, So. Coffeyville, Benton, Finney County, Hutchinson, Newton, Sterling, Berryton, Ford County, Iola, Nickerson, Tecumseh, Burrton, Franklin, Jardine, Ogden, Topeka, Caney, Frontenac, Jefferson, Park City, Towanda, Cheney, Garden City, Junction City, Pittsburg, Tyro, Cherokee Co., Garden Plain, Kechi, Pottwawatomie, Valley Center, Cherryvale, Gas, Kingman, Pratt, Weir, Chicopee, Geary, Kinsley, Wichita, Coffeyville, Goddard, Larned, Winfield, Cunningham, Grandview Plza, Lindsborg, Yates Center

Louisiana

• New Orleans
• Baton Rouge
• Lafayette

NOLA redirects here. ... For the Canadian restaurant, see Baton Rouge (restaurant). ... : Hub City : The Heart of Cajun Country United States Louisiana Lafayette 47. ...

Nebraska

• Omaha and surrounding areas

“Omaha” redirects here. ...

Nevada

• Las Vegas

The Las Vegas metropolitan area, includes the Las Vegas Valley a 600 square mile (1600 km²) basin, and surrounding areas, that are part of Clark County in southern Nevada. ...

New England

• Rhode Island and parts of Connecticut

This article is about the U.S. State. ... Official language(s) English Capital Hartford Largest city Bridgeport[3] Largest metro area Hartford Metro Area[2] Area  Ranked 48th  - Total 5,543[4] sq mi (14,356 km²)  - Width 70 miles (113 km)  - Length 110 miles (177 km)  - % water 12. ...

Ohio

• Cleveland (Broadview Heights, Brooklyn Heights, Fairview Park, Lakewood, Olmsted Falls, Olmsted Township, Parma, Parma Heights, Rocky River and Seven Hills)

Cleveland redirects here. ... Broadview Heights is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. ... Brooklyn Heights is a village in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. ... Fairview Park is a city located in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. ... Lakewood is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. ... Olmsted Falls is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. ... Olmsted Township is a township located in southwest Cuyahoga County, Ohio. ... Parma is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio in Cuyahoga County and is the largest suburb of Cleveland. ... Parma Heights is a city located in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. ... Rocky River is a city located in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. ... Seven Hills is a city located in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. ...

Oklahoma

• Oklahoma City
• Tulsa

Downtown Oklahoma City The State Capitol of Oklahoma From The South Motto: Nickname: Capital of the New Century Founded 1889 Incorporated County Oklahoma County Cleveland County Canadian County Borough {{{borough}}} Parrish {{{parrish}}} Mayor Mick Cornett Area  - Total  - Water 1,608. ... Downtown Tulsa Tulsa is the second-largest city in Oklahoma. ...

Virginia

• Fairfax
• Fredericksburg
• Hampton Roads
• Roanoke

Location in the Commonwealth of Virginia Coordinates: Country United States State Virginia County Independent City Founded 1805 Government  - Mayor Robert Lederer Area  - City  6. ... Location in Virginia Coordinates: Country United States State Virginia County Independent City* Founded 1728 Incorporated 1781 Government  - Mayor Thomas Tomzak Area  - City  10. ... This view from space in July 1996 shows portions of each of the Seven Cities of Hampton Roads which generally surround the harbor area of Hampton Roads, which framed by the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel visible to the east (right), the Virginia Peninsula subregion to the north (top), and the... Nickname: Location in Virginia Coordinates: , Country State Government  - Mayor Nelson Harris Area  - City  43 sq mi (111. ...

External links

• Cox Communications' Official Website
• Digital Straight Talk
• Cox Communications help forums (registration required - free)
• List of TV programmes and online tools for subscribers

References