Adelphia Communications Corp has been officially put up for sale, but that will not stop many local subscribers from seeing another rate increase.

Larry Mathews, general manager of Adelphia's Huntington-Ashland-Ironton area, met with the Ironton City Council in a special meeting Thursday to inform the city that the company plans to initiate the 30- to 36-month process of renewing the franchise agreement that expires in December 2006.

Of much more immediate concern was Mathews' announcement that the billion dollar corporation will be for sale during the next four months and also that a large percentage of the 4,500 Ironton subscribers will see a $3.25 per month increase on their next bill.

Signs of Adelphia's financial trouble became apparent in June 2002 when the company declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company has stated all along that it wanted to come out of bankruptcy as a whole without selling off its individual holdings. An $8.8 billion financing plan was even proposed to help the company operate out of bankruptcy, Mathews said.

But everything changed last week when an unsolicited and very lucrative offer was made for some of the company's Puerto Rico holdings. The offer was so good that company officials decided to put the entire company up for sale for the next four months, he said. If the overall bids are equally as high, the company's value could grow from $17 or $18 billion up to as much as $22 billion.

"I can guarantee you that if the company gets a $22 billion bid, it goes up for sale," Mathews said. "That is just business."

Time Warner and Cox Cable are two of only a few other entities that would be able to make such a big buyout happen, he said.

Both companies are trying to keep up with Comcast Corp after it purchased AT&T Broadband in 2002 making it the largest cable provider in the country with 21 million subscribers. Adelphia serves approximately 5.3 million households.

On a local level, cable subscribers who receive channels 26 through 75, either as part of the expanded basic or classic cables packages, will see a $3.25 increase. Adelphia's 1,100 digital subscribers in Ironton will not see an increase because these customers recently had their rates adjusted with the restructuring plan.

When asked why customers were hit with another increase after just seeing one last June, Mathews cited the same reasons as before including rising program costs, expensive equipment upgrades and increases in general operating expenses such as gasoline.

Cable customers will have a chance to express their opinions during the franchise renewal process that will be ongoing until late 2006.

The city's franchise agreement only mandates that Adelphia act as a proper business within the city and maintain liability insurance and other legal requirements. It does not give council or the city the ability to tell Adelphia how to run its business regarding prices and channel lineup.

Now that the process has begun the city has six months to start the process of getting customer feedback any way it chooses.

"We are getting together tonight to say that we had the first meeting," Councilman Richard Price said as he outlined the process that is mandated by the Federal Communicat-ions Commission. "We take the responsibility to inform the public and ask for their input."

At the end of the 6-month period, the city must submit a proposal of its own. Adelphia will then have four months to counter with its own offer. From there, it goes into negotiations, Mathews said.

Adelphia has remained a controversial topic within the community for several years.

In February 2003, residents protested against Adelphia's plans to add adult channels to the city's cable lineup. The pay-per-view channels were added to digital service despite the protests.

In June 2003, Adelphia executives announced the company would raise its subscription rates by an average of $2.50 per package, the second time within a year. In November 2002, rates increased by an average of $2 per package.

The company has earned praise for its decision to return WPBO to the lineup and add the popular Ohio News Network and Eternal World Television.