Next Adelphia Step Approved

A federal bankruptcy judge has given his approval to the sale of Adelphia's assets to Time Warner and Comcast, a sale which will eventually put nearly all of the company's Northern Ohio cable systems under Time Warner's control.

The sale has been held up by creditor concerns over the overall Adelphia restructuring plan, but the judge's order means it can proceed without that overall plan.

But the approval doesn't automatically give a green light to the Adelphia system breakup, in which Adelphia's regional holdings will be divided between Time Warner and Comcast. Those two entities are also trading some regional systems to consolidate their local holdings.

Here, it'll be Comcast giving its Cleveland-based network to Time Warner...elsewhere, Comcast will pick up some Time Warner systems.

The Adelphia sale must still be approved by the FCC, which is expected to tackle the matter in mid-July. The FTC already weighed in with its approval. There is also a linked transaction regarding Adelphia's majority interest in two joint ventures...which the company proposes to sell to Comcast. At least one of those ventures has Northeast Ohio ties.

This is all pushing the Adelphia asset transaction up against a July 31st deadline. After that date, Time Warner and Comcast can get out of the deal. Adelphia's chairman has been quoted as calling the July 31st date a "drop dead" date...