After Time Warner Cable (NYSE:TWC) completed its divorce from Comcast Cl' A' (NASDAQ:CMCSA) and acquisition of Adelphia, the company had a chance to start fresh with 3.5 million cable subscribers, rather than repeat the mistakes of the past that have brought them a reputation for poor service. Unfortunately, they seem to have pissed away that opportunity.

According to a report on Bloomberg.com today, 90,000 of those customers have already changed their channel from Time Warner. The company admits that transferring customers to their network caused overloads in their cable lines and the consequent problems with TV, Internet and telephone connections.

This news comes in advance of tomorrow's earnings report, when analysts surveyed by Thompson expect the company to report an EPS of $.24, down slightly from the previous quarter. Since the WSJ (subscription requires) reports some analysts expected a strong performance by TWC would bolster the earnings of the mother ship, Time Warner, the subscriber problems are doubly problematical.

In the meantime, TWC's largest rival, Comcast Corp., is projecting a 12% growth rate through 2009 and up to $1 billion in new revenue via its online advertising sector, Comcast Interactive Media.

Everyone in the FCC and the powerful Christian Right lobby is pushing cable operators to create more family-friendly options. And they finally have. But just because something exists, does not mean that it's well-publicized.

My husband and I chuckled behind our hands when my brother-in-law told us to ask for the Spanish-language package on Comcast - but it saved us money on the channels we used most. The cable company's new Family Tier, priced at only $33.29 in the Denver, Colo. area, would be even better for us (and keep us away from the dreaded Fox News, which for some reason is considered non-family-friendly option - a topic for an entirely other post, I'm sure). But, as the Denver Post reports, Comcast isn't exactly being proactive about letting consumers know they can opt in to the kindler, gentler bargain content.