Getting into Cable

In 1962, the company’s former Chairman, Jim Cox Jr., purchased three cable systems in central Pennsylvania, which combined had 11,800 subscribers. Cox was one of the earliest broadcasters to embrace community antenna TV (later called cable television), with the belief that better reception and more channels would be appealing to viewers in rural areas.  

Their assumption was correct, but it wasn’t just for those in rural areas; even residents of big cities were willing to pay for an upgrade to cable TV. By the end of the 1970s, Cox cable had expanded to 19 states and 670,000 cable TV customers.

Cox Cable experienced explosive growth in the 1970s. And in the 1980s, cable became more popular as sporting events moved to cable programming and HBO started offering films and made-for-cable entertainment.

Cox is still on the cutting edge of telecommunications and technology. Lightning-fast gigabit speeds offered by Cox Communications allow residential and business customers to operate dozens of devices at once, and power the company’s latest offerings of home security and home health services.