COUDERSPORT (EC) – While hundreds of former Adelphia workers
will report to work for a new employer this morning, dozens of
their colleagues may instead be sleeping in today.

Time Warner Cable took over most of the Adelphia properties in
Coudersport overnight.

For the majority of the approximately 1,150 affected employees,
it’s business as usual today. However, more than 100 people are
instead signing up for unemployment compensation, stepping up their
job-hunting or, in some cases, packing their belongings to leave
town.

Many of the displaced workers surrendered their pass keys and ID
badges Monday and reported directly to a local watering hole,
Mosch’s Tavern. One of them jokingly referred to the gathering as
“the first meeting of the Adelphia Alumni Association.”

On a more serious note, the estimated 110 employees who were cut
loose on Monday are only the first wave of what is expected to be a
continuing exodus from the former Adelphia workforce.

Time Warner Cable has picked up about 800 employees, the
majority of them in customer service positions with the Advanced
Product Customer Center and the Sales & Marketing Advanced
Retention Team.

No one can forecast how long those jobs can continue. But local
government leaders have become unnerved over a recent comment from
a Time Warner Cable official suggesting the company is
investigating India, Canada or consolidated facilities in the U.S.
to handle customer service responsibilities.

Another approximately 200 employees are hanging on for upwards
of six months as employees of the “Adelphia Estate.” They will
handle a variety of duties as the company closes out the financial
and legal aspects of its four-year-old Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Most of the Adelphia senior management team in Denver, where
corporate headquarters were relocated in 2003, vacated company
headquarters on Monday, as well.

The dispatched employees in both Coudersport and Denver are
eligible for court-approved severance payments, based on longevity
and job title.

There is no word from Adelphia officials on the disposition of
the massive and modern Operations Building on Coudersport’s South
Main Street. Time Warner Cable has not acquired the building as
part of the buyout. It will initially be occupied by the remaining
Adelphia employees involved in estate responsibilities.

Time Warner and Comcast purchased Adelphia’s assets for about
$16.9 million in cash and stock. The companies are dividing the
Adelphia cable systems spread across 30 states, serving just under
5 million customers.

The cable systems in the Coudersport, Port Allegany and Emporium
areas are operated by Zito Media, a business enterprise owned by
members of the Rigas family, who founded Adelphia in 1952 and
remained in control until resigning in 2002.