Link: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/fcc-lets-charter-buy-cox-says-no-reason-to-worry-about-higher-internet-prices/

Charter Communications, operator of the Spectrum cable brand, has obtained Federal Communications Commission permission to buy Cox and surpass Comcast as the country’s largest home Internet service provider.

Charter has 29.7 million residential and business Internet customers compared to Comcast’s 31.26 million. Buying Cox will give Charter another 5.9 million Internet customers. The FCC approved the deal on Friday, but the companies still need Justice Department approval and sign-offs from states including California and New York.

Opponents of Charter’s $34.5 billion acquisition told the FCC that eliminating Cox as an independent entity will make it easier for Charter and Comcast to raise prices. But the FCC dismissed those concerns on the grounds that Charter and Cox don’t compete directly against each other in the vast majority of their territories.

The FCC added that Charter and other cable firms will continue to face competition from fiber, fixed wireless, and satellite broadband providers. Competition from those sectors “will have a significantly greater impact on their pricing decisions than the possible increased ability to benchmark due to the loss of a single cable provider (Cox) in a different territory,” the FCC said.

Horseshit. Only in America is the literal handful of ISPs available considered healthy competition. This makes a couple near monopolies into nearer monopolies.