page_title: Cox Communications
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Cox Communications / History
context_page_description: Cox Communications is an American company that provides digital cable television, telecommunications and Home Automation services in the United States. It is the third-largest cable television provider in the United States, serving more than 6.2 million customers, including 2.9 million digital cable subscribers, 3.5 million Internet subscribers, and almost 3.2 million digital telephone subscribers, making it the seventh-largest telephone carrier in the country. Cox is headquartered at 6205 Peachtree Dunwoody Rd in Sandy Springs, Georgia, U.S., in the Atlanta metropolitan area. It is a privately-owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises.
context_section_description: Cox Enterprises expanded into the cable television industry in 1962 by purchasing a number of cable systems in Lewistown, Lock Haven and Tyrone (all in Pennsylvania), followed by systems in California, Oregon and Washington. The subsidiary company, Cox Broadcasting Corporation (renamed to Cox Communications in 1982), was not officially formed until 1964, when it was established as a public company traded on the New York Stock Exchange. It was taken private by Cox Enterprises in 1985.
  In 1993, Cox began offering telecommunication services to businesses it was the first multiple system cable operator to do so. This eventually grew into Cox Business, which now represents $1 billion in annual revenue. In 1995, Cox acquired the Times Mirror cable properties and as a result became a publicly traded company once again.
  In 1997, Cox became the first multiple system cable operator to offer phone services to customers following the 1996 Telecom Act. Two years later in 1999, Cox acquired the cable television assets of Media General in Fairfax County and Fredericksburg, Virginia. The following year, Cox Communications acquired Multimedia Cablevision with assets in Kansas, Oklahoma and North Carolina.
  In 2004, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors found Cox Communications guilty of violating an agreement with the county which stated that all homes served by Cox within Fairfax County would be digital ready with the new fiber optic network by June 2003. When this term expired with less than 30% of the county having been completed, the Board of Supervisors decided to fine Cox $100 per day from the originally agreed completion date, until work was completed in January 2006. The Board also forbade Cox from raising rates to recover the cost of the fine for a period of 10 years from the actual completion date. The total fine was approximately $93,000. Also in 2004, Cox Communications announced plans to take the company private once again, expressing frustration in the shareholder's emphasis on short-term goals. The company was taken private for the second time in 2005.
  By 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.
  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.
  In 2007, DiversityInc magazine named Cox Communications #25 in its Top 50 Companies for Diversity. Cox climbed to the sixth position on Diversity Inc.'s 2008 list.  Also in 2008, Cox was named #8 on the Top 10 Companies for African Americans. Two years later, on November 19, 2010, Cox began offering wireless services in Orange County, California; Omaha, Nebraska; and, in Hampton Roads, Virginia.
  In February 2011, Cox Communications completed its Alternative Energy Project which included two fuel cell installations at each of the company's San Diego, CA and Rancho Santa Margarita, CA headquarters. Two separate PureCell System 400 kilowatt installations will generate enough onsite power to reduce the company's dependence of the local power grid and decrease its carbon footprint.
  In September 2011, Cox Home Security was added to their suite of products listed on their website. This new service uses advanced technologies similar to the home security products offered by other MSOs such as Comcast.
  In August 2013, Cox launched a new television platform known as Contour, which features recommendations and a user profile system across multiple devices. In 2015, Cox licensed Comcast's Xfinity X1 platform (which features more extensive integration of video streaming apps, and a voice control remote); it was deployed in 2016, maintaining the Contour naming. Cox stated that at least 1 million subscribers were on the X1-based Contour as of October 2017.
  In 2016, Cox Business reached 3 billion in a
caption: COX Communications trailer (2006) SNUPY Awards
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2006:04:27 21:04:25", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "196", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "180", "Thumbnail YResolution": "180", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "2548", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "9216", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/20", "EXIF FNumber": "7/2", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "800", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2006:04:27 21:04:25", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2006:04:27 21:04:25", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "3", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "141621/32768", "EXIF ApertureValue": "118447/32768", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "118447/32768", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "18", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3072", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2048", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "3072", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "2048", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "2366", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "768000/223", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "409600/119", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}