AUBURN – City and town leaders from around Maine will join forces to negotiate better cable service and cheaper rates, beginning with a meeting at Auburn Hall today.
Cities and towns currently served by Adelphia have until October to review a proposed $17.6 billion takeover bid by Comcast and Time Warner corporations.
Most communities have clauses in their franchise agreements giving them a say in any sale. Auburn City Manager Pat Finnigan invited representatives from those communities to Auburn to discuss the buyout and talk about what it means.
“There is strength in numbers,” she said. “It’s a good time to get together and see what these towns can all do.”
Adelphia, the fifth-largest cable television provider in the country, serves about 200 communities in Maine. Finnigan expects about 15 to 20 of them to be represented Wednesday.
“It’s an opportunity to talk about rates and some service issues we have with Adelphia,” Finnigan said. “If nothing else, we want to be sure those issues are no worse with a new company – and we would hope they’ll be a lot better.”
Twin Cities residents have complained about Adelphia’s channel line-up, poor service and slow repairs.
Lewiston and Auburn leaders signed a franchise agreement with FrontierVision Cable in 1999, just before Adelphia bought the company. The agreement expires in 2009.
The Twin Cities could be in good shape, Finnigan said. Many Lewiston-Auburn residents can choose between Adelphia and Oxford Networks for their cable service. That could convince a new cable to company to offer a better deal.
“We’re just trying to look out for our subscribers,” Finnigan said. “We might not be able to control rates, but we might be able to influence them a little.”
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