New Time Warner Cable Tier Designed to Fail

BTIG Research analyst Richard Greenfield thinks Time Warner Cable's new low-priced cable package is designed to fail. Greenfield concluded that TV Essentials was "idiotic unless a cable operator believed there was little chance of most consumers having interest." He concludes TWC is deliberately tanking because he can't find any redeeming value in the product, including the absence of too many key channels like ESPN and Fox News Channel.

But what's more interesting is the rationale Greenfield offers as to why on earth TWC would bother failing on purpose: "The package appears to be more of a marketing tool than anything else, with an attractive marketing message (cheap) to economically challenged consumers - get the phone to ring and then upsell digital cable."