Adelphia

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For other uses, see Adelphia (disambiguation).

Adelphia Communications Corporation

Type	Dissolution
Founded	1952
Headquarters	Greenwood Village, Colorado
Key people	William T. Schleyer, Chairman and CEO Ronald (Ron) Cooper, President and COO Vanessa Wittman, EVP and CFO
Industry	Telecommunications
Products	Cable television, Internet Service Provider
Revenue	$3.61 billion (2003)
Employees	275
Slogan	Get. Watch. Do What You Want.
Website	http://www.adelphia.com/

Adelphia Communications Corporation, named after the Greek word "brothers", was the fifth largest cable company in the United States before filing bankruptcy in 2002 due to internal corruption. Adelphia was founded in 1952 within the town of Coudersport, Pennsylvania. The headquarters for the company was moved to Greenwood Village, Colorado shortly after filing for bankruptcy.

The majority of Adelphia's revenue-generating assets were officially acquired by Time Warner Cable and Comcast on July 31, 2006. As a result of this acquisition, Adelphia no longer exists as a cable provider. Adelphia's long-distance telephone business (resale provision of long-distance services) was sold to Pioneer Telephone for about $1.2 million.^[1]

Upon divesting its cable assets, Adelphia retained a skeleton crew of 275 employees to handle remaining bankruptcy issues. ^[2] It still exists as a corporate entity, continuing largely to settle ongoing financial obligations and litigation claims, as well as to consummate settlements with the SEC and the U.S. Attorney. It plans to sell most of its remaining real estate assets via a large Internet property auction. [1]

1 Dissolution
2 Adelphia officers trial
3 Adelphia Coliseum
4 Parody
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Dissolution

Adelphia's Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization has been marked by extensive disputes between creditors over the distribution of proceeds.^{[citation needed]} The dispute mainly pits creditors of the parent company (Adelphia Communications Corporation) against the creditors of the various operating subsidiaries (primarily, Arahova, also known as Century Communications). This dispute is ongoing.

The effective date of the Adelphia Plan of Reorganization occurred on February 13, 2007. Time Warner Cable was the allowed to distribute approximately $6 billion in shares to Adelphia stakeholders and succeed Adelphia as a publicly traded corporation.[2]

[edit] Adelphia officers trial

The founders of Adelphia were charged with securities violations, but despite five officers being indicted, only two (John Rigas and Timothy Rigas) were found guilty [3]; the others were acquitted of some or all the charges [4]. Rigas founded Adelphia with a $300 license in 1952, took the company public in 1986 and built it up by acquiring other systems in the 1990s. The company collapsed into bankruptcy in 2002 after it disclosed $2.3 billion in off-balance-sheet debt.

Federal prosecutors said the Rigases used complicated cash-management systems to spread money around to various family-owned entities and as a cover for stealing $100 million for themselves. A second Rigas son, Michael, former executive vice president for operations, was acquitted of conspiracy and wire fraud in 2005. However, jurors were deadlocked on certain counts, and Michael Rigas is scheduled for a second trial. Former Adelphia assistant treasurer Michael Mulcahey was acquitted of all charges.

John and Timothy Rigas are free pending appeal.[5]

[edit] Adelphia Coliseum

One previous marker of Adelphia's success before its bankruptcy included the naming of a football stadium, Adelphia Coliseum in Nashville, after its subsidiary, Adelphia Business Solutions. The name was taken off the stadium in 2002. It sat without a naming rights sponsor for four years before becoming LP Field in 2006.