Adelphia, which provides cable television and internet service for 85,000 customers in the Southeastern Massachusetts, recently announced that they are exploring the possible sale of the company to recover from over $20 billion in debt. The company was forced to undergo Chapter 11 bankruptcy after founder John Rigas, two of his sons and a former executive were accused of stealing hundreds of millions from the company in 2002.

Adelphia’s Vice President of Corporate Communications, Paul Jacobson, said last week that the company has been operating in Chapter 11 since mid-2003 and that the company devised a reorganization plan to “get back on its feet” and pay back creditors. 

“Our responsibility is to create the greatest possible value to those we owe,” said Jacobson.

While that plan has been in place for about three months, the company’s board of directors voted on April 22 to determine whether the sale of the fifth largest cable television provider would deliver more value than what’s proposed in the reorganization plan.

“We are exploring the process of selling the company on a dual track with re-emerging [from bankruptcy] independently,” said Jacobson.  “That doesn’t mean the company will be soldÖit means that interested parties can come forward, get the information they need and make a decision.”

Jacobson assures that the company will continue to expand its offerings to Massachusetts-based and other customers such as high definition television and high-speed internet.

Whether or not Adelphia is sold, the town of Duxbury is moving forward to ensure that cable subscribers of any provider get the most for their money.

Lynn Smith, chairwoman of the town’s Cable Television Committee, said that Adelphia’s contract is up in November of this year and in preparation, the committee solicited proposals from every cable television provider currently in the state.

Adelphia was the only company to submit a proposal by the March 31 deadline, as many providers shy away from coming into a town and laying new cable, said Smith.

But rather than just renew the contract with Adelphia, the town did test the market and its effort was recognized.

“The request for proposals is a lot more work, but it gives us a better option for competition,” said Smith.  “We got a letter from the state’s Department of Telecommunications and Energy’s cable division commending us on our efforts.  It said that not many towns make this effort.”

With the impending sale of Adelphia, said Smith, it also lets potential buyers know what to expect from their customers here in Duxbury.

“We’ve put something out that tells all companies what we want, what we are expecting, and Duxbury’s needs for the future,” she said.  “We are visible to these companies on what we want and we feel that we are in a good position, should somebody buy Adelphia, at least it will be someone who has seen what we want.”

Another reason for seeking proposals, said Smith, was that the committee decided it needed improved service and things they currently are going without, such as improved high-speed internet service than what is currently available.  She said many customers have expressed their dissatisfaction with the service as well as the frequent outages that occur.

With Adelphia the only taker, however, Smith said that the town is beginning negotiations on a new contract that will specifically outline Duxbury’s needs no matter who the provider is after a potential buy-out of the company.

“We want to protect ourselves in this new contract,” said Smith.  “If Adelphia is purchased by anybodyÖwe need to have a contract that protects our customers with respect to service and that no matter the provider, we get what we have negotiated.”

While companies such as Comcast, Time Warner and Cox Communications have all been rumored as potential buyers for Adelphia, Smith said that Duxbury residents want better service, no matter the provider.

Citizens who talked to the Clipper had mixed reaction to the potential sale of the company.

 “Unless they give us more stations, I’m happy with what we have,” said Parks Street’s Carmella Loring.  “I get the senior rate, so it is pretty affordable.”

David Chasnov has Adelphia cable both at his Chestnut Street business Gymnastics with Flair and in his Plymouth home.  He said he is happy with the company and fears that a new owner will come with new problems.

“Adelphia seems to be more local and I tend to be for the smaller people,” he said.  “As a conglomerate comes along, you get less people to talk to and interact with and you become a number.”

Winsor Street resident Tom Tucker said someone ought to buy Adelphia “given what the Rigas family did to it,” and he’d prefer a new company make the purchase and run the company efficiently.

He noted that the town loses cable service regularly and that he had the high-speed internet service, but switched after two months.

“It was a disaster,” he said.

Just as dissatisfied with Adelphia was Surplus Street’s Charlie Rogerson, who said that in addition to providing too many stations nobody watches, the company often blames outages on “burrowing critters” and he gets the standard “we’re looking into it” for an answer.

“It stinks,” he said.  “Comcast is a good company and I hope they buy it.  Anything would be an improvement.”