Adelphia Communications Corporation
Adelphia logo | |
Company type | Defunct |
---|---|
Industry | Telecommunications |
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 |
Products | Cable television, Internet Service Provider |
Revenue | $3.61 billion (2003) |
Number of employees | 275 |
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. "While Adelphia as a cable operator disappeared, the company continues to exist with a skeleton crew of 275 to handle remaining bankruptcy issues. In late July 2006, the company announced it reached a framework for a plan of reorganization that, if approved by the bankruptcy court, would result in an emergence from Chapter 11 late this year." [1] Adelphia's long-distance telephone business (resale provision of long-distance services) was sold to Pioneer Telephone for about $1.2 million.[2]
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.
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.
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 [1]; the others were acquitted of some or all the charges [2]. 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.
Parodies
- In a 2004 episode of the cartoon The Fairly Oddparents, Dimmsdale's cable TV company is "Dimmadelphia."
See also
References
- ^ Adelphia's assets now in hands of cable giants, Rocky Mountain News, August 1, 2006.
- ^ Adelphia Communications to sell long-distance phone service, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 6, 2005, Adelphia sells long-distance service for $1.2M, Denver Business Journal, July 6, 2005, and Notification by Adelphia Telecommunications, Inc. and Telecom Management, Inc. d/b/a Pioneer Telephone of an Asset Purchase Agreement, December 1, 2005.
External links
- Corporate Site
- Customer Portal
- Adelphia chapter 11 bankruptcy site
- Adelphia Southern California Site
- Adelphia New England Site - New Hampshire, Vermont, New York
- Adelphia Media Services (Cable Advertising) Site
- News article on Rigas' conviction
- News article on Adelphia's decision to offer X-rated pornography