ADELPHIA TO OBTAIN AV CABLE.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer

PALMDALE - Jones Intercable's Antelope Valley cable television system is expected to be purchased by Philadelphia-based Adelphia Communications, the nation's fifth-largest cable provider.

Comcast Cablevision, which acquired controlling interest in Jones last April, announced Monday it had formally filed applications to begin the transfer to Adelphia of Southern California cable systems including Jones in Antelope Valley.

``It's a very good match for us,'' said Bill Rivas, Jones' regional marketing manager.

Coming at a time when cable companies around the United States are consolidating or divesting their holdings to concentrate their systems in certain area, the transfer will make Adelphia the largest cable company in the Southern California market.

Last year it acquired more than 800,000 customers from Century and TCI cable systems in Southern California. The Comcast transfer will add another 400,000. In return, Comcast will receive a number of Adelphia customers on the East Coast.

``Adelphia has made a decision that Southern California is one of its major markets,'' said William Rosendahl, regional vice president for Adelphia of Southern California.

Adelphia has committed $100 million toward improving and expanding services in Southern California, including offering high-speed modems for the Internet, local and long distance telephone service, digital cable and long-distance paging, Rosendahl said.

The telephone and paging service could be offered within two months of the conclusion of the transfer, which is expected to occur in July, company officials said.

Adding high-speed modem and digital cable television service will depend on the condition of the local cable system, Rosendahl said. Adelphia engineers will be put to work after the transfer assessing the cable facilities.

There are no plans for rate increases, Rosendahl said.

Because of federal regulations, Rivas said, there will be no communication between the two companies for the 120 days until the transfer is complete. But he said Jones employees are looking forward to it.

Like Jones, Rivas said, Adelphia believes in letting each system run more or less as a local business, with a lot of local ties. Jones officials expect the staff to remain the same.

``The only thing that will change will be the name,'' Rivas said.

Adelphia's first priority is improving customer service, Rosendahl said. It also will evaluate its staff's salary and training, he said. Century cable employees' pay is going up 20 percent to 40 percent.