The Connecticut Attorney General and Consumer Counsel secured a settlement requiring Charter Communications to adhere to consumer protection commitments as it acquires Cox Communications. The agreement, pending PURA approval, includes pricing transparency, service reliability improvements, a $3 million digital access investment, and compliance with the Connecticut Data Privacy Act. It also maintains a Connecticut workforce and office, and prevents cost pass-through to customers.
The settlement requires Charter to maintain its Stamford office and in-state workforce for five years, invest $3 million in digital access and literacy, ensure billing transparency and limit fees, provide battery-backup options and outage credits, expand video services in former Cox areas, carry local news channels, and submit a CTDPA impact assessment and integration report. It also prohibits passing transaction costs to customers and ensures cooperation with state agencies.
In-house legal teams should review all customer-facing agreements (including service contracts, terms of service, and data processing addendums) for Charter and Cox in Connecticut. Specific clauses to scrutinize include pricing terms (to ensure transparency and prevent hidden fees), service level agreements (to verify reliability and outage reporting standards), data handling provisions (to confirm compliance with the Connecticut Data Privacy Act), and any cost allocation or pass-through language. Changes may be needed to embed pricing transparency mechanisms, update SLAs with measurable reliability metrics, incorporate data privacy compliance certifications, and explicitly prohibit passing merger-related costs to customers. Additionally, agreements involving workforce or local office commitments should be aligned with the settlement's maintenance requirements.
Entity
Charter Communications and Cox Communications
Also known as: Charter Communications, Cox Communications
Industry
TelecommunicationsOfficial Press Release
https://portal.ct.gov/ag/press-releases/2026-press-releases/consumer-protection-commitments-in-proposed-charter-cox-merger-settlement
charter cox occ oag settlement agreement.pdf?rev=a4b40ef158a
https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/ag/press_releases/2026/charter-cox-occ-oag-settlement-agreement.pdf?rev=a4b40ef158a6488d85c753d1f7f9f7ab&hash=29E8870D9ED013BBE4575418ADC56DA8
Connecticut Attorney General Enforcement Page
https://portal.ct.gov/AG/Privacy/Privacy-Resources
"Charter has sought approval from the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority to acquire Cox."
"submit a specified Connecticut Data Privacy Act impact assessment"
$500K
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong announced settlements with SunRun, Inc., Elevate Solar Solutions, and two salespeople over allegations of deceptive solar sales, including impersonating consumers and locking homeowners into long-term contracts without consent. SunRun must pay $300,000 and provide consumer relief; Elevate and the salespeople face a stated $200,000 penalty, with $100,000 suspended subject to ongoing compliance.
$8.0M
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$625K
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$2.6M
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