Time Warner to Focus on Service in Deal

Roger Keating, who will become head of Southern California’s largest cable system if Time Warner Inc.’s proposed acquisition of Adelphia Communications Corp. is completed, promised Monday that the transaction would mean improved customer service and more advanced offerings throughout the region.

“As the nation’s second-largest market, Los Angeles deserves the world-class products Time Warner can offer,” said Keating, 43, who is expected to be named today to the new position of corporate executive vice president for operations of Time Warner Cable’s Los Angeles region. “Time Warner has distinguished itself by being at the forefront of technology.”

The nation’s second-largest cable operator, Time Warner would become the biggest provider in Southern California as a result of the company’s joint $17.6-billion proposal with Comcast Corp. to buy Adelphia. The deal, announced in April, is expected to be completed within a year, pending the approvals of local and federal regulators.

Under the deal, Time Warner would take over not only Adelphia’s 1 million cable customers in Los Angeles and Orange counties, but also local Comcast systems that serve about 580,000 subscribers. The transaction would expand Keating’s oversight from Time Warner’s current 355,000 customers locally to 1.9 million subscribers in Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

Los Angeles would become Time Warner’s largest cable cluster, followed by its systems in New York and Houston.

Keating said that although it was too early to discuss personnel matters, the company had no plans to reduce its workforce. “We’re going to need an ever-growing staff,” he said, citing the profound challenges of bringing Adelphia and Comcast service levels in line with Time Warner’s own.

Since Adelphia filed for bankruptcy protection two years ago, the company has lacked the resources to roll out many advanced services.

Keating said Time Warner was eager to offer digital phone service to Adelphia customers for the first time. He said Time Warner’s video-on-demand offerings also were more extensive than Comcast’s or Adelphia’s and that it had a higher Internet connection speed than its rivals.

City officials welcome the change in ownership because of Time Warner’s reputation as the best of the five local cable providers. Time Warner has the top customer service record, while Adelphia has the worst, according to city complaint figures.

City regulators said Adelphia had been plagued by complaints about picture quality, long customer waits on telephone help lines and out-of-state service representatives unfamiliar with local conditions. They say they will make service improvements a condition of transferring Adelphia’s franchises.

Under Keating, who has run Time Warner’s local group for two years, the company’s subscribers have grown even as satellite TV rivals have lured customers away from other Los Angeles cable operators, including Adelphia and Charter Communications Corp.