Time Warner Cable tries cheaper cable packages

Time Warner Cable will start testing lower-priced cable TV packages in New York City and Ohio in a bid to give more options to customers struggling with the rising bills from ever expanding basic cable channel packages.

The No.2 US cable company will kick off the trial of a new TV Essentials package in New York City next week with a $39.99 offer and on December 15 in north East Ohio for $29.99 in a promotional offer. It will officially retail at $49.99 and feature around 50 channels compared with around 130 channels for an average digital starter package at $59.95. Key to the reduced price will be the exclusion of higher cost channels such as Walt Disney Co's ESPN's flagship channels, which charge among the most expensive carriage fees in the cable business. Also excluded are Time Warner Inc's TNT Network, News Corp's Fox News and NBC Universal's MSNBC among others. One potential drawback of the new offer is that customers will not be able to buy it as a part of discounted 'Triple Play' or 'Double Play' package that would include Internet or/and telephone service.