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Raleigh, N.C.-Area Cable Firms Set to Offer Family-Friendly Packages

Posted on: Tuesday, 13 December 2005, 00:00 CST

By David Ranii, The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.

Dec. 13--Time Warner Cable, the dominant provider of cable-television service in the Triangle, and other major cable TV companies have blinked in the face of political pressure urging them to offer a family-friendly package of channels.

A top executive of a cable industry trade group told a Senate hearing Monday in Washington that Time Warner is one of a half-dozen cable companies that is gearing up to offer a "family tier" to subscribers interested in weeding out the sex and violence shown on some cable channels.

The packages may be offered as an option as early as March, Kyle McSlarrow, president of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, told the Senate Commerce Committee.

Time Warner Cable spokesman Keith Cocozza confirmed that the company will introduce a family-friendly package soon.

"The family tier we are considering would be offered as an addition to basic-only service," he said. Because the basic tier is the minimum level of service subscribers can receive, such a tier would be available at additional cost to all subscribers. Cocozza said it is premature to discuss particulars, such as pricing and which channels the tier would include.

Time Warner is looking at which channels would be desirable, and which it can offer in a family package. The company's contracts with some channels could prohibit such a move, he said. Time Warner, the nation's No. 2 cable company, has slightly more than 500,000 cable TV customers locally.

Kevin J. Martin, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, pushed the concept of a family tier recently when he testified before the Senate. Analysts predicted that the cable industry would offer packages of family-friendly channels to appease regulators and Congress, in hopes of warding off more onerous changes.

Bloomberg News contributed to this report.

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Source: The News & Observer

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