The $17.6 billion deal between Time Warner Cable and Comcast Corp. to divvy up Adelphia Communications will take several months yet to close, but Time Warner nevertheless has named the executives that will lead its new properties.

Under the complex deal announced in April, Time Warner would consolidate its hold on the Los Angeles basin, combining its existing system there with traded properties from Comcast and Adelphia's adjacent system. Yesterday, Time Warner Chairman and CEO Glenn Britt announced Roger Keating has been named corporate executive vice president for operations for the consolidated Los Angeles region.

The division will include systems in Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, San Bernardino and the western portion of Riverside counties, serving 1.9 million subscribers. It's a territory Keating knows well - he is now Time Warner's division president in Los Angeles.

A similar consolidation will occur in Texas, and for that new group Wayne Knighton has been promoted to corporate executive vice president for operations. The new system combines Time Warner's existing Austin, Houston, San Antonio, Waco and Southwest Texas systems with Comcast's Dallas system and will serve approximately 2.6 million subscribers.

Knighton has been the division president of Time Warner's South Carolina Division since 1999.

Both appointments are contingent on the close of the Adelphia acquisition deal, a process expected to take nine months to a year.