9/20/02 News from Ken Lieberman
Money for expansions has been added to Adelphia's
budget. Since Adelphia is in Chapter 11, they must submit a two-year
budget. This includes all expansions nationwide. The CEO of Adelphia
reviews the budget Sundays and Mondays. If they approve this budget,
then it goes to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for approval. Ken says he
will know more the last week of October.
[Jump to news from 8/02/02]
These are notes from my chat with Ken Leiberman on
7/11/02, regarding bringing Adelphia Cable service to 550 houses in
the town of Spafford.
What's been done so far: NYSEG has installed 75 new
poles, now Adelphia has declared Chapter 11.
To recap: Ken Lieberman has been at work for 2
years as a volunteer (since July 2000), trying to bring cable to the
Town of Spafford. He worked with the Town to petition for alternate
PFC, comparing coverage between Adelphia Cable and Time Warner (Road
Runner). Time Warner was interested, but Adelphia was chosen because
they said they could deliver service to 150 more houses.
Lieberman talked to Adelphia's general manager on
7/11/02. He said they needed 6 weeks to sort out and reorganize.
Ken Lieberman: As of today (7-11-02) at 2:00
pm, there is big news on the Adelphia Cable project due to the filing
of Chapter 11 by Adelphia Cable.
Gordon Ireland signed and sent a letter to Adelphia,
giving them until 7/10/02
or the Town will pursue other options, which may include revisiting
the alternate franchise
proposal.
This past Monday (7-8-02) Adelphia said they need to
reevaluate all expansions in New York State.
They may now do just the "high density
areas" (lakeside areas only, and not including seasonal houses).
Time Warner says it needs 26 houses in a linear mile to provide cable
service.
Time Warner is still interested in bringing cable to
Spafford. Gordon Ireland signed and sent a letter to Time Warner.
"We are interested in them providing coverage, "Ken says.
"Now we must wait. The PFC must be involved. This will take
time."
Now we will wait for TW to meet with us. This may take
several more weeks. They were seen in the area drawing their maps.
He says he would love to have cable for the high speed
internet access it would bring,
but if Time Warner is selected, cable won't be coming to his street
anytime soon.
Even so, Ken has spent 2 years laboring over this project trying to do
what is best for the town.
UPDATE 7/17/02
From: Kenneth.Lieberman@us.ngrid.com
To: "Borodino Bullett Newsroom" newsroom@borodinobullett.com
There is even more news. Gordon and I met with Time Warner last night.
They are interested in completing the entire proposed expansion. To
accomplish this, we have to negotiate the Pole Attachment Licenses
from Adelphia to Time Warner. This is a big step. If Adelphia agrees,
we then would have to start the Alternate Franchising Agreement
process over again with the Public Service Commission. I hope to
receive information from Adelphia today.
UPDATE 8/02/02
From: <Kenneth.Lieberman@us.ngrid.com>
To: "Borodino Bullett Newsroom" <newsroom@borodinobullett.com>;
"Sara Errington" <serrington@syracuse.com>; <Whitechristopher@earthlink.com>
Subject: Cable TV and High Speed Internet Access
Date: Friday, August 02, 2002
Joyce, Sara, Chris,
Just spoke to both Adelphia and Time Warner. Here is the latest.
Adelphia will not sell their pole attachment space to Time Warner.
Adelphia has completed the required paperwork for the Spafford
expansion re-evaluation. Adelphia will do one of the following with
respect to our expansion:
Do nothing
Do part of the agreed expansion
Do all of the agreed expansion
There is no set time for the decision to be made.
Time Warner is going to start a study to determine what it would cost
them to build additional space on the poles for their cable. Even if
Adelphia does not use Adelphia's space, Time Warner can not install
Time Warner cable in the Adelphia space. This work would require many
new poles and likely be cost prohibitive.
As you know, the Adelphia chapter 11 has slowed (and perhaps stopped)
this entire project. If we only started a few months earlier, we may
have been done by now. I will keep you informed, expect another update
the last week in August.
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