Policyband Analysis: Cable Has a New Godfather – What Does Charter CEO Christopher Winfrey Do with His Power?
To his credit, Winfrey has a tough side and he's not afraid to show it.
WASHINGTON, May 19, 2025 – At once glib and serious, affable and stony, Charter CEO Christopher Winfrey is cable’s new capo di tutti capi – inheriting the Godfather mantle from Comcast’s Brian Roberts, who held it for 15 years after John Malone moved to the sidelines. Charter’s new $34.5 billion conquest of closely held Cox Communications — which is expected to close unmolested by regulators — will give Winfrey enormous leverage over TV broadcasters, cable programmers, tech vendors, and many more. How will he use his power?
Whether he likes it or not, Winfrey needs to raise his profile on Capitol Hill and cement key relationships to avert something daft like a 21st Century version of the 1992 Cable Act. Winfrey was shrewd to congratulate President Trump on his victory last November, when cable Democrats and centrist Republicans refused. He was astute in signaling that Trump’s tariff approach deserved a shot at creating good-paying union jobs at Ford plants in Michigan by making Communist Beijing slash excessive duties on F-150s mothballed in Shanghai parking lots because they cost $95,000 there, compared to $38,000 in Sioux Falls. (More after paywall.)