Adelphia

For other uses, see Adelphia (disambiguation).
Adelphia Communications Corporation
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Type Public
Founded 1952 in Pennsylvania
Location 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
Revenue $3.61 billion (2003)
Website www.adelphia.net

Adelphia Communications Corporation (OTC: ADELQ), named after the Greek word for "brotherhood", was the sixth largest US cable television operator before it filed for bankruptcy in 2002 due to internal corruption. The Rigas family (John Rigas and sons), which founded the company in 1952, had allegedly been deceiving its investors as well as mismanaging and allocating funds. Along with one of his sons, John Rigas, now 80, was convicted in the summer of 2004 of conspiracy, bank fraud, and securities fraud.

Adelphia is currently undergoing improvements in management and customer care. Although some argue that Adelphia's dramatic increases in cable rates are unnecessary and unreasonable, others argue that it is necessary to temporarily issue the increases at intervals to pull the company out of its bankrupt state. Adelphia, despite its current situation, continues to expand its cable television and internet services as well as a potentially successful telephone service given that the new management team makes drastic management and leadership improvements. Adelphia also appears to be keeping up with the recent changes in technology as it expands to offer such services as HDTV and TiVo equipped cable boxes.

Adelphia recently became the first leading cable company to offer XXX-rated pornography programming in a major market (Southern California). This move marks a sharp change in the company's attitude towards such programming. In 1999, Adelphia dropped the Spice channel, which featured soft-core pornography, from several newly acquired cable systems, citing conflict with founder John Rigas' morality.

One previous marker of Adelphia's success before its bankruptcy included the naming of a football stadium, The Coliseum (formerly Adelphia Coliseum) in Nashville, after its company name. Currently Adelphia is working on closing an 18 billon dollar deal with Time Warner Cable and Comcast Communication. Adelphia will split up their regions.

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See also: Adelphia, 1952, 1999, 2002, 2004, Adelphia (disambiguation), American football, Bank fraud