Adelphia Will Move Headquarters to Denver

Cable operator Adelphia Communications Corp. said Tuesday that it would move its corporate headquarters to Denver, leaving the small Pennsylvania town that was once synonymous with the company.

Adelphia employs about 1,400 people in Coudersport, population 3,000, although its local workforce shrank after financial scandal unseated the founding Rigas family and forced the company to seek bankruptcy protection.

The cable operator said senior management positions would make the move west to Colorado, but most employees based in Coudersport would be unaffected by the move. Much of the company’s fiber-optic network still runs through the town.

The move of headquarters to Denver had been widely expected since Adelphia’s board named William Schleyer chief executive.

Schleyer was formerly CEO of AT&T; Broadband, which was based in Denver before Comcast Corp purchased it last year. With more than 1,500 Denver-based AT&T; Broadband workers laid off after the acquisition, the city has a deep cable-savvy talent pool.

A transportation hub, Denver also has logistic advantages over Coudersport, which is about 50 miles from the nearest airport. The relocation is contingent on approval by the Bankruptcy Court, as is the hiring of Schleyer and former AT&T; Broadband executive Ron Cooper as Adelphia’s chief operating officer.

U.S. legislators and Pennsylvania Gov. Mark Schweiker vied to keep Adelphia in Coudersport, designating four Adelphia properties there as opportunity improvement zones to make them eligible for property tax breaks.

Adelphia’s operations in western New York near Buffalo, which employ about 1,700 workers, will be unaffected by the move, the company said. Adelphia’s total workforce is about 14,000.