Time Warner cable announces family tier

Televisionpoint.com Team
Time Warner Cable announced the details Thursday of a family-friendly package of cable channels that it will begin offering in the first few months of next year.

Earlier this week, the head of a cable industry group told a Senate committee that Time Warner Cable and industry leader Comcast Corp. were among several cable operators that intended to offer such services.

The cable industry has been under pressure from federal regulators and activist groups to give parents greater ability to exclude programs with sexual or violent themes that they found unsuitable for children.

Time Warner Cable said it would begin offering a "Family Choice Tier" across its coverage area in early 2006 for $12.99 above the cost for basic cable, which averages about $12. The company said a digital set-top box will generally be needed to receive the programming package.

The company said the package would include 15 channels: the cartoon channel Boomerang; C-SPAN 2 and C-SPAN 3; CNN Headline News; The Science Channel; Discovery Kids; Disney Channel; DIY Network; FIT-TV, Food Network; HGTV; La Familia; Nick Games & Sports; The Weather Channel and Toon Disney.