• The Philadelphia Inquirer, Tuesday, January 11, 2011 11:51 PM

With the nation's unemployment rate relentlessly above 9% and cable subscribers cutting the cord, Comcast Corp. has lowered the price of its entry-level 50-channel TV-only package to $29.95 a month in the Philadelphia area, a 25% drop from its previous $39.95 level. Separately, the nation's No. 2 cable company, Time Warner Cable Inc., is experimenting in New York City and Ohio with lower prices targeted at economically distressed consumers.

Time Warner's TV Essentials $49.95 package has been discounted to $29.99 in the Cleveland area and $39.99 in New York. Comcast spokeswoman Jennifer Khoury said the $29.95 price for its "digital economy" TV package simplified the cable company's pricing structure and allowed basic-cable subscribers to more easily upgrade. The digital-economy package does not include ESPN. The pricing moves come amid a troubling period for the cable industry, which lost 741,000 basic-video customers in the third quarter, per Kagan.

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