Does Time Warner Offer a Basic Cable Plan?

Time Warner Cable offers cable service in 28 states and operates out of the Time Warner Center in Midtown Manhattan. The company was formed in 1989 through a merger involving American Television and Communications Corp. with Warner Cable. Since the merger, Time Warner Cable has become one of the largest cable companies in the United States, providing service to more than 14 million customers, according to the Time Warner Cable website. Time Warner Cable offers cable TV, digital phone and high-speed Internet services at affordable prices in communities all over the country.

In November of 2010, Time Warner Cable released their most basic cable package, called TV Essentials. This package was created to provide customers who might otherwise cancel their television service because of economic difficulties with an affordable, basic option for cable TV. The TV Essentials package includes local channels like ABC, NBC and CBS, 12 of the top 20 cable channels and a number of representative channels from a variety of categories including sports, kids, music, shopping and general entertainment. As of 2011, this package has a retail price of $49.99 per month, but promotional pricing is available in some areas including New York state and northeast Ohio.

Time Warner Cable customers who subscribe to the TV Essentials package are subscribing to a video only plan. This package includes access to the new-release video on-demand library, Time Warner Cable's on-screen guide and a variety of Music Choice channels, but high definition programming is not available.

All Time Warner Cable customers, including those who subscribe to the TV Essentials package, are able to utilize enhanced TV features like Start Over and Look Back. The Look Back feature allows users to watch TV shows up to three days after they have aired and the Start Over feature lets users go back to the beginning of a program they have already started. While most Time Warner Cable customers can subscribe to DVR service, this service is not available to customers who subscribe to the TV Essentials package.