ADELPHIA HAS BEEN PLAYING UNDER PAR

BY IAN OLGEIRSON, KAGAN Adelphia’s new executive team has demonstrated progress in untangling the MSO’s Byzantine books, but the Denver-based group still has a long way to go in improving Adelphia’s operating performance to industry norms. The cable operator posted AT&T Broadband-like margins in Q1, dropping to just 27% as programming increases outpaced the growth in overall revenue. Adelphia also lags well behind the industry average for revenue per basic subscriber. The embattled MSO reported slightly more than $53 for the last two quarters versus the more than $60 average posted by its peers. Its penetration rate of digital customers is on the high side at above 30%, but its high-speed data rates are well below the industry average. Moreover, Adelphia is behind in triggering broad VOD and HD initiatives to keep the pump primed for new revenue streams.