SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 8-K
Current Report
Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)
of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported): January 8, 1999
Cox Communications, Inc.
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(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)
Delaware
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(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)
1-6590 58-2112288
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(Commission File Number) (I.R.S. Employer Identification Number)
1400 Lake Hearn Drive
Atlanta, Georgia 30319
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(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code)
(404) 843-5000
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(Registrant's telephone number, including area code)
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Item 5. Other Events.
In periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the
"SEC"), press releases and other written or oral disseminations from time to
time, Cox Communications, Inc. ("CCI") sometimes makes forward-looking
statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of
1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements include, among others,
statements concerning our outlook for the future and information about our
strategic plans and objectives, expectations as to subscriber and revenue
growth, anticipated rates of subscriber penetration, and other statements of
expectations, beliefs, future plans and strategies, anticipated events or trends
and similar expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts. Actual
results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, and
may be affected by known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors.
Many of these risks and uncertainties have been discussed in our prior filings
with the SEC. Factors to consider in connection with any of our forward-looking
statements include, but are not limited to:
o Our ability to implement successfully our growth strategies and the
level of success of our operating initiatives, including future
expenditures on capital projects, terms and availability of capital,
the actual level of revenue growth, adverse changes in the price of
telephony interconnection or cable television programming, and
disruptions in the supply of services and equipment. In addition,
material changes in the cost of equipment or significant unanticipated
capital expenditures could disrupt our business plan and adversely
affect our business operations.
o Trends in our businesses, particularly trends in the market for
existing and new communications services and changes in business
strategy and development plans.
o Our ability to increase penetration in existing markets, as well as
those we enter through acquisitions or other business combinations,
including our ability to continue to control costs and maintain high
standards of customer service, the extent to which consumer demand for
voice, video and data services increases, subscriber availability and
growth, and subscriber demand and competition.
o Our ability to generate sufficient cash flow to meet our debt
service obligations and to finance ongoing operations. CCI has
historically reporte net losses, and we operate with a significant
level of indebtedness. Cash generated from operating activities and
borrowing has been sufficient to fund our debt service, working
capital obligations and capital expenditure requirements. We believe
that CCI will continue to generate cash and obtain financing
sufficient to meet such requirements. However, if CCI were unable to
meet such requirements, we would have to consider refinancing our
indebtedness or obtaining new financing. Although in the past we have
been able to refinance our indebtedness and obtain new financing,
there can be no assurance that we will be able to do so in the future
or that, if we were able to do so, the terms available would
acceptable to us. In addition, we must manage exposure to interest
rate risk due to variable rate debt instruments.
o Changes in our relationship with, the performance of, and the market
value of companies in which we have significant investments,
especially investments in telecommunications and technology, including
AT&T Corp., Sprint PCS, At Home Corporation and PrimeStar, Inc.
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o Competition from alternative methods of receiving and distributing
signals and from other sources of news, information and entertainment,
such as newspapers, movie theaters, online computer services and home
video products. Because our franchises are generally non-exclusive,
there is potential for competition from other operators of cable
television systems and other distribution systems capable of
delivering programming to homes or businesses, including direct
broadcast satellite systems and multichannel, multipoint distribution
services. In addition, we face general competitive factors, such as
the introduction of new technologies (such as Internet- based
services), changes in prices or demand for our products as a result of
competitive actions or economic factors, and competitive pressures
within the broadband communications industry.
o Our ability to obtain the necessary FCC, as well as state and local,
authorizations for new services, and our response to adverse
regulatory changes. The cable television industry is subject to
extensive regulation by federal, local and, in some instances, state
governmental agencies. Advances in communications technology as well
as changes in the marketplace and the regulatory and legislative
environment are constantly occurring. Thus it is not possible to
predict the effect that ongoing developments might have on the cable
communications industry or on our operations.
o Year 2000 Readiness Disclosure: Our ability to mitigate the impact of
------------------------------- the year 2000 issue. Cox has begun
implementing a plan to assess, remediate and test its computer systems
, software applications and equipment with imbedded microprocessors
sufficiently in advance of the year 2000 in order to reduce the risk
of an interruption in critical services related to the millennium date
change. We are currently not aware of any material non-compliance by
CCI's vendors or suppliers critical to CCI's operations that will
materially affect our business; however, we do not control these
systems and cannot assure that they will be converted in a timely
fashion and, if not converted, would not have an adverse effect on our
business operations.
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SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the
Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the
undersigned hereunto duly authorized.
COX COMMUNICATIONS, INC.
Dated: January 8, 1999 By: /s/ Andrew A. Merdek
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Andrew A. Merdek
Corporate Secretary
