California regulators voted unanimously Thursday to approve Charter Communications' $34.5 billion acquisition of Cox Communications, removing the final regulatory barrier to a merger that creates the largest internet service provider in the United States.

The combined company will operate under the Cox brand despite Charter being the buyer, and will control more than 70 million passings and more than 35 million broadband subscribers nationwide.

The California Public Utilities Commission adopted, with few changes, two settlement agreements between the companies and consumer advocates in the state. The five commissioners voted 5-0 in favor of an alternate decision put forward by Commissioner Matthew Baker, rather than a stricter version proposed by Administrative Law Judge Jamie Ormond, who oversaw the case. Ormond's draft would have imposed rural deployment and low-income service requirements going beyond the settlements. The companies had asked the CPUC to adopt Baker's version.

The conditions carry a concrete price tag for the merged operator in California. Under the two settlement agreements, the combined company will spend $275 million on network upgrades across the state and offer a $20 monthly plan for eligible households. It must also participate in California's low-income broadband subsidy program for five years and spend $30 million on broadband adoption efforts, channeled through the nonprofit California Emerging Technology Fund, one of the settling parties. Charter and Cox also reached a settlement with CalAdvocates, the CPUC's own public advocacy office.

One concession addressed criticism from non-settling advocacy groups: new subscribers on the $20 plan and other low-income tiers will not be required to have gone without broadband the previous month, a response to concerns that eligibility rules would exclude households in need.

Those groups still objected to the deal's broader implications. "While the Charter/Cox merger offers a few substantive public interest benefits – such as requiring Charter to adhere to current Public, Educational, and Government Access Channels laws – we caution against the continued and rapid consolidation of the marketplace without sufficient regulatory safeguards," the California Alliance for Digital Equity, Digital Equity LA, the Media Alliance and others said in a joint statement.

Baker's decision added conditions beyond the settlements. The merged company must offer 72-hour backup batteries to cover outages — and the commission rejected the companies' request to phase in that requirement over time. The operator must also make any given promotion available throughout California, unless it was motivated by another ISP's local promotion, a condition designed to push low prices statewide. Commissioner Christine Harada cautioned that the agency and advocacy groups should watch closely to ensure the exception doesn't effectively preserve ordinary localized promotions.

The timing was tight. The deal received Federal Communications Commission approval months ago, and Justice Department approval, granted last year, would have expired — requiring another review — if the CPUC had not voted on Thursday. California was the last barrier to closing.

"We'll have our work cut out for us in ensuring these benefits are achieved," CPUC President John Reynolds said at the agency's meeting. "Staff will monitor and enforce compliance with the settlement agreements and proposed decision to ensure Californians received better service after this transaction."

Commissioner Darci Houck said the agency favors settlements when parties reach them, and that she did not believe the agreements in this case needed to be overruled with extensive additional conditions.

The financial asymmetry between the two operators underscores why Cox sought the deal. In SEC filings earlier this month, the companies reported Cox brought in $6.6 billion in revenue in the first half of 2026, compared with Charter's $27 billion. The filings did not provide updated Cox subscriber metrics, but they indicated Cox was lowering prices to mitigate subscriber losses that have hit cable operators for years, MoffettNathanson founder Craig Moffett wrote in an investor note.

The closing also resets expectations for further consolidation in US cable. "With the closure of the Cox transaction, we expect an increase in investor speculation around a potential Charter-Comcast merger, especially after Comcast's recent announcement that they are splitting the Cable and Media assets," New Street Research analyst Vikash Harlalka wrote in an investor note. For now, attention shifts to delivery: the $275 million upgrade program, the $20 plan and the five-year subsidy participation all fall to CPUC staff to monitor and enforce.