LATE BREAKING NEWS

Adelphia Communications announced last week that E. Thayer Bigelow Jr., former CEO of Time Warner Cable programming and president of HBO, and Kenneth Wolfe, former chairman of Hershey Foods Corp., have been elected to the board of directors. The independent board members will replace two directors appointed by the Rigas family; the outgoing directors announced their resignation this summer. Adelphia did not return immediate calls about whether it has approved the two directors — Wexford Capital principal Arthur Amron and Magten Asset Management managing director Talton Embry — that shareholders of Adelphia’s Series B preferred stock claimed they could appoint due to voting triggers in the stock purchase agreement. FX is fielding criticism from cosmetic plastic surgeon Dr. Stephen Greenberg that its new hit series Nip/Tuck is an “outrage” to his profession. Bravo’s new hit, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, was also rescheduled by Augusta, Ga., NBC affiliate WAGT to 2:30 a.m. on Friday from its prime-time replay (which attracted 6.9 million viewers) on NBC the previous night. Station management said the show was not “appropriate by local community standards.” Following Insight Communications plans to refinance the $900 million debt of its Ohio operating subsidiary with a new $1.125 term loan, Moody’s Investor’s Service Friday assigned a Ba3 credit rating to the proposed credit facility. Although Insight’s total debt will increase slightly, it is undertaking the refinancing in an effort to simplify its capital structure. While that rating is generally positive, Moody’s said in a press release the ratings outlook remains negative, reflecting growing business risk, including heightened competition from both DBS providers and telecom companies. The outlook also incorporates concerns that the company may not meet its performance objectives and may not see enough growth to reduce its debt, Moody’s said. A&E Television Networks EVP Whitney Goit has been promoted to senior EVP at the company…. “The Next Question” appended to the July 7 Digital Pipeline article was overstated, and therefore inaccurate. The telcos in question have not petitioned the courts for redress; rather, they have filed complaints with a state utilities commission. Certainly, the filings don’t constitute a lawsuit, but may be a precursor to such…. Cable World takes a holiday: As is our custom, we will be publishing on a biweekly schedule in August. The next issues of Cable World will be published Aug. 11 and Aug. 25. We will resume weekly publication beginning with the Sept. 8 issue.