Charter and Cox’s big cable-TV merger will ramp up the Spectrum brand in the cord-cutting era

On Friday, cable companies Charter Communications and Cox Communications announced that they’ve agreed to merge. Charter will acquire Cox in a deal valued at $34.5 billion. 

This is one of the biggest deals of the year. Charter, known more widely by its brand Spectrum, is one of the largest television communications operators in the country. 

The proposed transaction will result in Charter acquiring Cox’s commercial fiber and managed IT and cloud businesses, and Cox will contribute...