NEW YORK - Two members of the family that built Adelphia Communications into a cable television powerhouse before it collapsed argued Thursday that a judge should reduce the sentences of the company's founder and his son based on new evidence that arose after their trial.

The appeals were made during a resentencing hearing before U.S. District Judge Leonard B. Sand in Manhattan. Adelphia founder John Rigas, serving a 15-year sentence, and his son Timothy appeared at the hearing by video from prison. John Rigas, tearful at times, said he felt too ill to speak.

Timothy Rigas, who is serving a 20-year sentence, said he never went to work thinking he was doing something improper. He said he relied on the best accounting and law advice from outside professionals when he was the company's chief financial officer.

James Rigas, another of John Rigas' sons, blamed the company's troubles on excessive aggression by the federal government along with unprecedented skepticism toward corporations after the implosion of Internet stocks, the fall of Enron Corp. and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. James Rigas, who was never charged in the case, became choked up at one point as he spoke.

Sand did not immediately resentence the Rigases but he did say he found it “very distressing” that there was no acceptance of responsibility by the defendants for what happened to Adelphia.

When Adelphia collapsed into bankruptcy in 2002, it was the country's fifth-largest cable TV company, serving more than 5 million customers in 31 states.

Comcast Corp. in Philadelphia and Time Warner Cable, a unit of Time Warner Inc., have since bought Adelphia's cable assets.