Boston -- National Cable & Telecommunications Association president
Robert Sachs weighed in with his personal reaction to the Adelphia
Communications Corp. scandal at the Cable & Telecommunications Association
for Marketing's CTAM Summit here Monday, saying that his feelings have evolved
from 'sadness' to 'anger.'
But don't expect his trade organization to intervene in terms of crafting
uniform reporting or accounting standards for the cable industry.
During a press conference after his appearance at the opening session, Sachs
was asked about his thoughts following a USA Today story that reported
that Adelphia founder John Rigas and his sons are expected to be indicted this
week.
When prodded about why he thinks the Rigases acted as they did, Sachs said,
'To me, these are inexplicable actions, if what is reported is true, which are
unacceptable for any executive in any business.'
Sachs added that his reaction to the Adelphia scandal has evolved as its
details unfolded.
'The first emotion was of sadness, personal tragedy,' he said. 'That emotion
became one of anger or betrayal. There are good people who work for that company
. Their lives have all been affected.'
But Sachs said it is not the NCTA's place to try to create any uniform
reporting standards on financial data for cable operators to use.
During a recent call with analysts, Insight Communications Co. Inc. CEO (and
NCTA chairman) Michael Willner suggested that the cable industry look at making
its numbers 'more understandable.'
Sachs said the victims of the Adelphia situation are the company's employees
and shareholders, as well as the cable industry as a whole.
'That is the real tragedy: People have suffered because of the actions of a
few,' Sachs said, adding, 'Every MSO has been impacted by Adelphia,' referring
to the financial meltdown of cable stocks.
'There are a number of our companies that are creditors of Adelphia,' he
said, referring to programmers that are owed millions of dollars of license
fees.
