Come next year, Adelphia Communications will become part of Time Warner Cable of Maine, and the Naples Board of Selectmen is doing what it can to make sure service to Naples residents doesn’t diminish as a result.

Billions in debt forced the Broadband Internet and cable provider to file for bankruptcy in 2002 and sell off the Adelphia franchise to Comcast and Time Warner.

Time Warner has asked the 60 Maine towns affected by the transfer to sign off on the deal. About half of those towns, including Naples, have issued formal resolutions requesting Time Warner provide the same services to their communities as are currently available in the Greater Portland area.

Though Time Warner has not yet responded to the towns’ demands, the corporation has refused to negotiate any town or city contracts so far as part of the transfer.

“What we are asking for is that we get the current services that other communities already have,” said Naples Town Manager Derik Goodine.

Conditions imposed by Naples’ resolution, signed by the Naples Board of Selectmen on Monday, Oct. 10, would obligate Time Warner to upgrade services, honor their existing contract with Adelphia and extend cable service to parts of Naples that Adelphia did not reach, Goodine said.

Under Naples’ request, over a period of 10 years, Time Warner would have to deliver full services to areas with a minimum density of eight homes per square mile, as opposed to the current 15 homes per square mile. This would mean Time Warner would have to provide customers in Naples with services such as digital phone and video-on-demand.

With the resolution in place, Time Warner must either have to agree to these terms or dispute them with Naples and the other towns that have made similar requests.

Goodine said that, without the new resolution, Naples would have to wait until their current contract with Adelphia expires in 2012 to negotiate with Time Warner.

“Basically we’re not doing anything differently than we did when Adelphia took over,” Goodine said. “But Time Warner says we have no right to negotiate.”

When Frontier Vision became Adelphia in 1999, 56 communities teamed together to negotiate changes to their contracts. Because of this team effort and Adelphia’s cooperation, many communities received free Internet to public schools, libraries and town offices.

Lawyer Pat Scully, of Bernstein & Shur Law Firm in Portland, advised those towns as part of a steering committee back in 1999 and now again for the current transfer. However, Time Warner refused to sit down with the 60-town collective and negotiate any conditions, Scully said.

And so, Scully advised towns to add imposing conditions to the resolutions if they want to assert themselves.

“The resolutions are aimed at not leaving the Adelphia towns in a second class status,” Scully said.

Adelphia goes broke

Adelphia bankruptcy resulted from a corporate scandal in March of 2002 when Wall Street analysts discovered management of the company had hid $2 billion worth of debt from the public and Adelphia shareholders, said Paul Jacobson, Vice President of Corporate Communication for Adelphia. The upper management has since been indicted and sentenced for the crime, and an interim management put in their place.

Adelphia filed for bankruptcy in June of 2002 and agreed to sell its franchise to Time Warner and Comcast for $12 billion dollars.

After Adelphia transfers its franchise to Time Warner and Comcast, residents won’t see much of a difference, Jacobson said.

“Adelphia will continue to be in normal operation until 2006 when eventually the name on their bills will change,” Jacobson said.

The transfer of the franchise should be finalized in early 2006, Jacobson said.

Fight, or flight

Though the final sale is months away, Oct. 14 marked the deadline for towns to sign off on the transfer. Some towns like Windham did sign a resolution as a formal approval, but did not impose conditions like Naples.

“We didn’t feel that the transfer of franchise was the time to do that,” said Town Manager Anthony Plante.

Though Time Warner has refused to negotiate any new terms of Windham’s contract, Plante said the company has been “very professional and cordial.”

Part of Windham near Forest Lake already receives Time Warner cable. In the past, they have been unable to watch Windham’s local community station channel that broadcasts town council and planning board meetings. Now with all of Windham coming under Time Warner, Plante looks forward to the entire town being under a single franchise.

“From here, we just hope to have a constructive relationship with Time Warner as a franchise serving the whole town instead of just part of it,” Plante said.

Depending on how Time Warner reacts to the town resolutions, individual communities which imposed conditions on the company may have to fight in court for their negotiating rights.

“It’s simple enough that we either go to court or say it’s not worth the fight,” Goodine said. “But we have the right to have the same services in Naples (as in Greater Portland).”