The first rule of marketing is to keep your name in front of people.
The WT are skillful marketers. If it weren't for the blood issue, shunning, neutrality, and unfulfilled Armageddon dates, the WT would have disappeared into oblivion years ago. Take the 1975 issue for instance. Growth in the org had slowed to a trickle back in the late 50's and early 60's. The 1975 hype brought new recruits in droves. In spite of the eventual fallout, it is possible to speculate that the number of JW's in the world today would be significantly less if 1975 had never entered into Freddy Franz's delusional mind. This organization owes its entire existence to false prophecy and controversy.
It is for this reason that I hope that the Dateline story never airs. It just puts the JW name in front of people and gets them curious. You can picture the scene. A lonely, needy housewife sees the Dateline story. She angrily confronts the next JW's who come to her door. Guess who becomes a convert a few months or a year down the road.
"Now, in view of present labor troubles and threatened anarchy, our readers are writing to know if there may not be a mistake in the 1914 date. They say that they do not see how present conditions can hold out so long under the strain..." Zion's Watch Tower, July 15, 1894