Businessweek

Time Warner Cable Inc. provides video, high-speed data, and voice services in the U.S. with cable systems located primarily in five geographic areas, including New York State (including New York City), the Carolinas, the Midwest (including Ohio, Kentucky, and Wisconsin), southern California (including Los Angeles), and Texas. As of December 31, 2012, the company served approximately 15.2 million customers (approximately 14.7 million residential services customers and 563,000 business services customers) who subscribed to various primary services, totaling approximately 28.9 million primary service units. Services Residential Services The company offers a range of residential products and services. It provides advanced services, such as video on demand (VOD) and digital video recorders (DVR) that allow customers to access content when they want it and, through the company’s TWC TV apps, on an improving range of devices. Video Services Programming: The company offers various tiers and packages of residential video programming and music services ranging from a basic service tier with approximately 25 channels to a set of digital packages with approximately 400 channels. It tailors its programming tiers and packages to appeal to specific groups of customers. It offers specialty tiers of genre-based programming, such as the Family Choice Tier, Movie Pass, and Sports Pass, as well as packages, such as Time Warner Cable TV Essentials, which targets budget-conscious customers. The company also offers packages with various foreign-language programming, including El Paquetazo, with English and Spanish-language channels designed to appeal to Spanish-speaking subscribers. Its residential video subscribers might also subscribe to premium network programming, such as HBO, Showtime, Starz, and Cinemax and related offerings. During 2012, the company added primary sports programming, including NFL Network and Red Zone, as well as the PAC-12 Networks. The company offers residential video subscribers, on average, approximately 165 high definition (HD) channels, including all the major broadcast networks and the major national cable networks, premium networks, and regional sports networks, as well as a selection of VOD programming in HD. The company also offers select programming in a three-dimensional (3D) format to subscribers with 3D-capable televisions. Time-shifting: The company provides a range of services, such as VOD, DVRs, and Start Over and Look Back services that provide residential video subscribers with the ability to control when they watch their favorite programming. The company’s VOD service provides residential video subscribers with free access to a selection of movies, programming from broadcast and cable networks, music videos, local programming, and other content. Its VOD service also offers a selection of featured movies and special events on a pay-per-view basis. In addition, premium network (HBO) subscribers have access to the premium network’s VOD content without additional fees. The company offers equipment with DVR functionality that enables residential video subscribers to pause and/or rewind ‘live’ television programs and record programs for future viewing. The company also offers Whole House DVR, a multi-room DVR service, which allows a program recorded on a DVR to be watched on any connected television in a customer’s home. In addition, customers might program their DVRs remotely through a smartphone, tablet, or computer. The company also offers Start Over, which enables digital video subscribers using a TWC-provided set-top box to restart select ‘in progress’ programs directly from the relevant channel and Look Back, which extends the window for viewing a program to 72 hours after it has aired. Start Over and Look Back are available in its service areas. New Ways to Watch: The company, through its TWC TV apps, enables in-home viewing of approximately 300 channels of live programming on iPad, iPhone, and Android devices and approximately 4,000 VOD programs and movies on iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch devices. Subscribers also might watch the same TWC TV programming on their hom