Oct.

Wednesday, October 13, 1999

Oct. 1, the months-long negotiations between Adelphia Communications and FrontierVision Partners was completed, giving Adelphia ownership of Ironton’s former cable television service providers.

"We are extremely excited about the future opportunities that Adelphia will provide to our customers," regional manager Steve Trippe said. "This includes additional services and enhanced customer service through our new customer care program."

Customer care problems nearly prevented the merger from taking place without a lengthy court battle, however.

For Ironton city officials, the closing on the acquisition came after several negotiations between FrontierVision, Adelphia and the city because of preexisting dissatisfaction with cable services in Ironton.

Although necessary and defined in the terms of the franchise agreement between FrontierVision and the city, consent to the changeover from Ironton City Council did not come easily and was once revoked before council members agreed to support the acquisition.

The company, which announced the impending sale to Adelphia, needed city consent and approval in the form of a city council resolution before the transaction could be completed, Mayor Bob Cleary explained.

Adelphia regional manager Trippe said the company would have completed the transaction whether or not council passed a resolution of consent, Cleary said the original franchise agreement prohibited this action.

Council originally agreed to the sale last spring, only to rescind the original resolution after a reconsideration of the company’s offer of a local office reopening one day per week and a local payment station.

"Ironton residents wanted their Cincinnati channel back on the air," Cleary said. "And as city officials, our job was to speak for the people and do our level best to provide them with what they needed."

Once the cable company agreed to place the channel back in the city’s programming, council passed the resolution of consent and left it in place.

The completed acquisition will mean few visible changes to Ironton cable subscribers and gives Adelphia control of 5 million cable customers’ viewing from Maine to California.

In addition to cable television, Adelphia also offers telephone service and advanced communications services to businesses and other high-volume users in several markets nationwide.