By Cassimir Medford

Time Warner said Tuesday that its subsidiary Time Warner Cable has become a public company as a result of the completion of Adelphia Communications’ bankruptcy plan.

The end of the two-year-long bruising fight with Adelphia’s shareholders opened the door for Time Warner to choose the easy route to taking its cable business public.

Time Warner withdrew the registration statement on Form S-1 it had filed in October with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and filed a Form 8-K with information regarding its operations.

Using Adelphia as its shell, Time Warner Cable was able to avoid a formal initial public offering, according to Time Warner.

The New York City-based media giant said it expects Time Warner Cable Class A common stock to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange, under the “TWC” symbol, and start trading as early as March 1.

“We are very pleased that Time Warner Cable has become a public company and are excited about its stock soon being listed on the New York Stock Exchange,” Time Warner CEO Dick Parsons said in a statement.

“We believe Time Warner Cable is positioned to compete successfully in the fast-growing cable sector and to increase value for the shareholders of Time Warner and Time Warner Cable,” he added.

Shares of Time Warner rose $0.28 to $21.45 in recent trading.

Nasty Uprising

Adelphia’s stakeholders received shares of Time Warner Cable Class A common stock on July 31, 2006 as part of the payment for systems bought from Adelphia, the company said.   

  

The shares will be distributed by Adelphia to its stakeholders in accordance with its Chapter 11 plan, starting within the next fewdays.

The issue of Time Warner spinning off its cable operations has been the subject of a very nasty shareholder uprising led by billionaire Carl Icahn (see Time Warner Breakup Urged and Icahn Pressures Time Warner).

Icahn Pressures Time Warner

Mr. Icahn, who claimed to control a faction that owned 3 percent of Time Warner’s shares, kept up a drumbeat of criticism of Time Warner’s brain trust.

He in fact called for the wholesale replacement of a majority of Time Warner’s directors. But central to his attacks was the spinoff of Time Warner Cable.

Buying Spree

Pali Research analyst Richard Greenfield expects Time Warner Cable to use its cash reserve go on a buying spree.

In a report Mr. Greenfield wrote that TWC would attempt to buy adjacent systems in Dallas and Los Angeles from Charter Communications.

Los Angeles

He also expects the newly autonomous cable operator to acquire its main New York area rival, Cablevision Systems.

New York

That would perhaps put TWC close to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission’s 30 percent market share cap for cable operators. But there are questions as to whether that cap is still in effect (see Adelphia Sale Moves Ahead).

Adelphia Sale Moves Ahead“There is room for consolidation, but it all depends on whether Charter or Cablevision are willing to sell some of their systems,” said Bruce Leichtman, a media analyst with Leichtman Research. “But Time Warner Cable will not be the only buyer in the market. I am sure Comcast would also be interested, although they are close to the FCC’s cap.”