ADELPHIA CABLE TUNING OUT SOCAL.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

Adelphia Communications is looking for buyers for its cable television system serving more than 1 million Southern Californians, the company said Wednesday.

As part of an effort to reduce a $2.3 billion debt, the Pennsylvania-based corporation's board of directors announced late Wednesday that it authorized financial advisers to solicit offers for selected cable assets.

Those assets include Thousand Oaks, Agoura Hills and Palmdale as well as unincorporated areas of Los Angeles.

``Based on the many informal expressions of interest we have received in recent weeks, as well as the high quality of our cable operations, I am confident that the steps we are taking will enable us to achieve our objectives of reducing debt, deleveraging our balance sheet, and creating a stronger Adelphia better positioned to build the company's value for all of our shareholders and other constituents,'' John J. Rigas, chairman and CEO of Adelphia, said in a statement announcing the move.

Adelphia said that there can be no assurance that the solicitation of offers will result in the negotiation and consummation of any cable sale transactions.

Adelphia's cable dealings in Ventura County raised the ire of officials in March. When the provider purchased the americast system from Verizon Media Ventures in late February, making it the sole cable purveyor in Thousand Oaks and surrounding municipalities, the city filed suit to block the transaction.

Thousand Oaks won a temporary injunction in April on the grounds that Verizon had violated its franchise agreement by not giving sufficient notice of the sale, forcing Adelphia to maintain the same service levels and prices offered by Verizon.

Adelphia assumed operation of the Antelope Valley system in January 2001 after acquiring it from Comcast, which bought it in 1999 from Colorado-based Jones Intercable.

Earlier this year, Adelphia surprised investors when it disclosed a $2.3 billion off-the-books debt. The Rigas family, which owns a controlling 24 percent stake in the company, borrowed the money through arrangements with family-controlled partnerships.

Adelphia could be liable for the debt should the partnerships be unable to meet the debt obligations.

The sixth-largest cable television company in the United States, Adelphia has 1.2 million basic cable subscribers in Southern California, about 750,000 in Florida, 575,000 in Virginia and 225,000 in the Southeast.

Staff Writer Brent Hopkins contributed to this report.