By Scott Taylor,Staff Writer

AUBURN – Time Warner Cable officially takes over Adelphia on Tuesday, assuming control of 260 Maine cable TV franchises and roughly 180,000 customer accounts.

Changes will be subtle at first. Television channels and customer service numbers won’t change. More importantly, rates for service will stay the same.

“I can say that rates will not increase as a result of this transaction,” said Melinda Poore, Time Warner’s spokeswoman in Maine. “Everything should stay at the status quo.”

Adelphia has been in bankruptcy for two years. Time Warner announced its intention to take over in April 2005.

“We’ve been planning this for months and months,” Poore said. They’ve tried to consider every angle, from service to payments to call-center operations.

“The goal is, most people won’t even realize things have changed on day one,” she said.

Cable TV boxes and most channel offerings will stay the same and even the guide channel for digital cable should stay the same.

But changes are coming, Poore said. Subscribers to Adelphia’s Internet service will be moved to Time Warner’s Road Runner service. E-mail addresses will change from “@adelphia.net” to “@rr.net.” The company will forward messages sent to old accounts for up to one year.

The company also plans to begin offering digital phone service in 2007.

“But first, we need to look over the system to see if anything needs to be updated,” Poore said.

Several cities and towns voted on a resolution last fall requiring Time Warner to meet with the cities and towns within 90 days of closing to talk about expansion plans. The resolutions require the company to expand service significantly within three years and to include all but the least densely populated areas within 10 years.

Poore said the company intends to give all Maine subscribers the kind of service Portland subscribers get.

“We are looking to make this all one big operation,” Poore said.

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