By Scott Taylor,Staff Writer

AUBURN – Maine cities don’t have much say in what becomes of cable TV service, according to Auburn City Manager Pat Finnigan.

“Basic cable is about all we can regulate, by federal law,” Finnigan said Friday. “But we do have some say in that, and we do have contracts about other issues.”

Finnigan wants to hear about Adelphia customer service, signal quality in Auburn and cable rates. The city has set aside part of tonight’s City Council meeting to hear from local cable TV subscribers about the planned Adelphia takeover by Time Warner Cable.

“The cities are going there to talk about our assessment of the cable infrastructure, where it’s been and where we think it needs to be,” Finnigan said. “We just want to make sure that we don’t lose anything if Time Warner takes over.”

Lewiston and Auburn head up a consortium of 100 Maine communities reviewing Time Warner’s buyout plan of Adelphia. These communities, all Adelphia franchisees, have until Oct. 17 to weigh in on the $17.6 billion takeover bid.

Adelphia, the fifth-largest cable television provider in the country, serves about 200 communities in Maine. Most communities have clauses in their franchise agreements giving them a say in any sale.

The biggest concern is making sure services don’t disappear or that quality doesn’t go down.

“One big thing is our French language channels,” Finnigan said. “That’s not a big deal in most Maine communities, but we have two channels. We want to make sure we don’t lose any.”

Lewiston has scheduled a similar meeting next Monday at Lewiston City Hall, and Finnigan is planning a second public session in Auburn Hall that same day. City employees plan to take the information they get back to their talks with company officials.

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