 donaldk Premium join:2000-10-19 Thunder Bay, ON | Adelphia
It's the Titanic of cable companies . |
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  jhudson2 Copyright Martyr
join:2000-11-07 San Marcos, CA | And the Rigas family continues to rearrange the deck chairs... |
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  bistro777 Donuts-Is There Anything They Can't Do? Premium join:2002-02-07 Englewood, CO
| Avarice and Greed
Its kinda sad, actually. When I lived in Buffalo before making the move West, Adelphia was always viewed in the Buffalo area as a sort of white knight the promise of much-needed jobs to Buffalo; the purchase of the Buffalo Sabres to retain local ownership and turn the team into a Stanley Cup contender; the carefully-crafted image of a benevolent, silver-haired, small-town guy who made it on his own and chose to remain in lil ol Coudersport rather than be tempted by the bright lights of New York or another city.
Boy - - - were we ever wrong, because the recent revelations and pending/ongoing investigations show just what has been happening behind the scene all these years. What a shame...and what a sad comment on greed, arrogance and avarice at the highest levels of the company.
Adelphia spelled backwards is Aihpleda. |
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  Turdicus Sr Premium join:2002-03-08 Huntsville, AL | reply to donaldk Re: Adelphia
I already tossed my raft in the water. I'm having my Adelphia services disconnected the 28th of this month. -- Every time you masturbate God kills a kitten. |
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  FLea973 Premium join:2001-02-27 Morristown, NJ clubs: | reply to donaldk said by donaldk: It's the Titanic of cable companies .
Except everybody loved the Titanic until shortly after it hit the iceberg.... |
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  machpost
join:2002-01-11 Washington, DC
| reply to bistro777 Re: Avarice and Greed
I agree, it is sad, or at least it appears that way. I had always viewed Adelphia as an all-American success story, a man who builds one of the first CATV systems with a $300 investment, only to have it grow into one of the nation's largest and most highly regarded cable systems. Now I must stop and wonder how much "crafting" went into the small town, family owned and operated business image. |
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  RR Conductor RailRoadDude Premium join:2002-04-02 Redwood Valley, CA
·Comcast
| reply to bistro777 I must be in one of the "lucky" areas(Mendocino County, California, 100 miles north of San Francisco), because I have had nothing but good luck with Adelphia. The Powerlink service works great, no problems, and it never goes down. The digital cable is as clear as satellite, and I get some channels they didn't have on DirecTV or Dish. When I call customer service, I always got through in 5 minutes or less, and the reps ALWAYS were helpful and nice. When they came out to install my Digital cable and Powerlink, there were actually a little early. They came in here and in the span of less than two years took an old, outdated system and completely overhauled it, laying fiber all over the area, enabling most of this rural county to get digital cable and Powerlink. I hope this mess doesn't affect the customers, or the good people working for Adelphia. Now I know a lot of you have had bad experiences with them, I just wanted to share one success story. I wish everybody could have one. |
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  Karl Bode News Guy join:2000-03-02 | reply to bistro777 Personally, I'm kind of curious about how much of the shady business practices were due to Tony boy, child wonder CFO and not necessarily good old pops? -- Palpatine for Senate |
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 geek49203
join:2000-11-25 Jackson, MI
| said by Leviathan: Personally, I'm kind of curious about how much of the shady business practices were due to Tony boy, child wonder CFO and not necessarily good old pops?
My thoughts exactly. I'm not sure if it was due to sibling rivalry, a need for praise, or perhaps just caught up in good ol telecom greediness. My educated guess, having been to Coudersport to sit through a few meetings, is that the old man wasn't being told everything in the way that he needed to hear it. Access to the father was controlled by the sons, and it's anyone's guess what they told him (intentionally shady or not). It was a management style that is usually destined for failure even in good economic times. |
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  Karl Bode News Guy join:2000-03-02
Host: Road Runner PC gaming GAMES PC gaming Tech
| Just seems to me like a guy who won't allow porn channels on his systems, even though he could make a fortune off them, isn't going to make shady under the table deals.
I'm guessing the CFO was given a little too much leash, and perhaps dear old dad was spending less time watching the fire.
This should flesh itself out in the next few weeks I would think. Some of these financial accusations are pretty major league..... -- Palpatine for Senate |
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 geek49203
join:2000-11-25 Jackson, MI
| reply to bistro777 You can only imagine what this is gonna do to Coudersport, which will look like an wild-west ghost town after the gold rush. The corporate phone book and the village phone book are virtually the same. The downtown's major feature is the new Adelphia headquarters building.
I can see the abandoned houses, churches, schools now. After all, it's not like one can replace a 5 or 6 figure middle-level management income in Coudersport when the nearest big city is more than 2 hours away.
Just think... the father has to live with the remains of his town, having to look at the devestation everyday... |
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  Karl Bode News Guy join:2000-03-02
Host: Road Runner PC gaming GAMES PC gaming Tech
| I'm seeing a similar impact in the town I grew up in....IBM began in central New York near Binghamton, and has over the years trimmed it's operations....with the recent announcement of cuts it should truly decimate the workforce, who aren't going to find much else to do in that area... -- Palpatine for Senate |
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  bistro777 Donuts-Is There Anything They Can't Do? Premium join:2002-02-07 Englewood, CO
| Yeah, I know what you mean - it's always a shame to see good people lose jobs and home due to people who've enriched themselves by questionable means. I lived in the Buffalo area in the early 90s, endured the snow and four-straight Super Bowl losses - great parties, though - and watched that rust-belt city slowly disintegrate as steel and other jobs were lost. So, employment-wise, Adelphia was a breath of fresh air to the community.
There was a big article in The Buffalo News today (buffalonews.com) about the revitalization of the Lake Erie waterfront and the Sabres - both impacted by Adelphia's demise. They were to have built a CS center near the waterfront arena to house 1,000-1,300 people, jobs desperately needed in the Buffalo area. Now it won't be built and jobs will be lost by people unable find other work as the Adelphia cable franchises are sold-off across the country.
Adelphia and the Rigas family were always viewed in Buffalo as 'good for the community' (regardless of one's like/dislike of their products/services). It's a real shame their actions will affect so many 'common folk' - people who worked hard and trusted in management to build and grow the company. 'For the love of money is the root of all evil' etc., I guess...
Adelphia spelled forwards is still Adelphia. |
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  SAM Hunter$
join:2001-05-11 USA
| The real story.
I have followed and analyzed Adelphia's operations and marketing for a year and one half. I have made numerous posts about them with details of their operations and marketing.
Virtually every major ISP or broadband provider has bad times at point or another, whether overall or in certain major operational area or geographical service areas.
Adelphia was unique in my opinion in the scope and length of their problem and most importantly--they never showed any ambition or genuine ambition to change or improve anything for the better. They truly seemed to have no desire to fix anything. The ONE thing they did do was even as every single aspect of the service and support rapidly depleted or degraded was to to continue to aggressively market. The worse of it was they even heavily marketed in many areas of the country where they could not even come close to functionally offering what they were advertising and they knew it! They really did know it. All they could actually offer was a connection that couldn't even compete with dial up in performance and they knew the system was so shot it was absolutely positively worthless in EVERY area of performance. In fact in the just the past six weeks they have been sending me as an Adelphia cable TV user new and even "better" promotions to try and get more revenue. Typically now the first six months for $19.95 per month.
What a blight they are, regardless of who is to blame in the company or the internal problems. -- Just because its accurate doesn't mean its true. |
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  cmcgilton
join:2001-03-14 Stow, OH | Let's See What Happens Next
Let's see what happens to the Buffalo Sabres, the Empire Sports Network and the naming rights to the Tennessee Titan's stadium named "Adelphia Coliseum". Was perhaps money was funneled from the core cable business into these ventures as well? |
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  Karl Bode News Guy join:2000-03-02
Host: Road Runner PC gaming GAMES PC gaming Tech
| Personally I'm glad all these corporate named stadiums are going under....I always found the process to be a slap in the face of professional football...
3com stadium, Adelphia coloseum, Psinet Stadium...Good riddance I say.... -- Palpatine for Senate |
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  Karl Bode News Guy join:2000-03-02
Host: Road Runner PC gaming GAMES PC gaming Tech
| reply to bistro777 Re: Avarice and Greed
I went to school in Fredonia at about that same time.
It's consistently amazing how the NY State legislators throw bread crumbs to the rest of the state, and whole loaves and NYC....
There's just no impressive business development being tried in New York State.... -- Palpatine for Senate |
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  Karl Bode News Guy join:2000-03-02 | reply to bistro777 Oh, and I lived on Heath street in Buffalo for a summer before moving to NYC.... -- Palpatine for Senate |
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  RR Conductor RailRoadDude Premium join:2002-04-02 Redwood Valley, CA | reply to Karl Bode Re: Let's See What Happens Next
My favorite baseball team hasn't sold out thank goodness, Dodger Stadium is still Dodger Stadium  |
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 geek49203
join:2000-11-25 Jackson, MI
| said by ILOVELA2: My favorite baseball team hasn't sold out thank goodness, Dodger Stadium is still Dodger Stadium
Yeah, tell that to my father and a few hundred thousand like him to used to be Brooklyn Dodger fans.... |
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