The State Of Adelphia

Hyping its increasing digital numbers and decreasing basic sub losses, Adelphia’s pres/COO Ron Cooper declared his systems in good shape for Comcast and Time Warner Cable. "Look at what we’ve done at Adelphia in spite of the bad problems we inherited," Cooper said. "Now take away the bankruptcy, take away the fraud, take away the scandal, take away the disruption and distractions, and you can see that the cable industry’s potential remains tremendous….We’ve made enormous progress and created billions of dollars in value for our bankruptcy constituents." While Adelphia has not launched VoIP yet, its systems are ready for Comcast and TW Cable to roll the service out soon after the acquisition goes through. — Cable should rely on 5 attributes as it competes, Cooper said: its system, which it spent $100bln upgrading; its role as a video incumbent ("customer inertia is on our side"); its cost structure and lower operating costs ("I’d rather be a cable operator trying to take voice share from the telcos than a phone guy trying to take video share from us); its ability to develop and launch new services; and its entrepreneurial spirit. — The Deal’s Hurdles: The FCC is only a part of the reason why Comcast and Time Warner Cable’s Adelphia acquisition is so slow going. Cooper pointed to the MSO’s move through the Chapter 11 process as a big holdup. The problem is that some of the mid-level creditors are fighting about the pecking order to decide who’s 1st in line for getting the $20bln the company owes. "We optimistic that the transaction will close in the middle of the year," Cooper told CableFAX. What are Cooper’s plans once the acquisition finally goes through? "I haven’t thought about what to do next," he said. "I’m going to need some time to decompress a bit."