Time Warner Inc.’s cable unit on Wednesday filed for an initial public offering that may raise as much as $6.9 billion and for the first time give investors a stake in the nation’s second largest cable television provider.

Proceeds will go to creditors of Adelphia Communications Corp., which obtained 16 percent of Stamford, Conn.-based Time Warner shares when it and competitor Comcast obtained and divided Adelphia assets in July. Time Warner Cable is now the largest cable provider in Los Angeles and New York

Time Warner Cable will not receive any proceeds from the offering. The IPO is seen as a possible precursor to sale or spinoff of more of the unit estimated by some analysts to be worth as much as $43 billion by parent Time Warner, which retained a 84 percent stake.

The filing didn’t specify when the IPO may take place or how many shares would be sold.