Comcast announces Family tier

[Dmon4u]

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/051222/phth019.html?.v=37

"In addition to the 20-25 channels that customers receive on the Basic Cable Tier, Comcast's Family Tier will include:


* Disney Channel * HGTV
* Toon Disney * Food Network
* PBS KIDS Sprout * DIY
* Discovery Kids * CNN Headline News
* Science Channel (Discovery) * The Weather Channel
* Nickelodeon/Nick Too * National Geographic
* Nickelodeon GAS * C-SPAN
* TBN (Trinity Broadcasting) * C-SPAN 2"

"Customers who select the Family Tier programming package will pay an average of $31.20 per month. The pricing and channel lineup will vary by market and will be based on the cost of Comcast's Basic Cable Tier at a national average price of $12 (locally regulated), the 16 Family Tier channels for $14.95, and a digital cable set-top box with a national average price (also regulated) of $4.25."

How, exciting ?

[sieglinde]

TBN? is family friendly. Um, OK, but not any family I ever lived with.

I would prefer being able to select each channel rather than buying bundles.

[Graymalkin]

The weather and Congress are fit for juvenile audiences only?

[Dmon4u]

"Think of the Children" = "Bland and Boring"

[bicker]

I'm guess that the criticism will start tomorrow. "Oh, my. It's so expensive!" <roll eyes> I think the critics who forced the industry into this action never understood the economics of the issue.

[aindik]

Interesting that ABC Family is not included in the Family package.

[bellvis]

Originally Posted by aindik

Interesting that ABC Family is not included in the Family package.

I'm not sure ABC Family even qualifies for the "family" distinction anymore.

[mike3775]

My rep told me that this will require a digital box to recieve some of the channels. So if you want the complete family tier, you have to pay more, just like I said they would do.

[aindik]

Originally Posted by Dmon4u

* National Geographic

Does that mean they're not going to show naked African women on that channel anymore?

[sieglinde]

I think that Pat Robertson saying that God won't help a town in Pennslyvania out in a disaster would tell children a horrible message.

They could never have CAL-SPAN (California C-SPAN) on the bundle because some state representative went off of gay sex in a very explicit way. (Evidently the recording of that was an underground hit.)

[Koan]

Originally Posted by aindik

Interesting that ABC Family is not included in the Family package.

ABC Family is already in the basic tier.

[jsmeeker]

Originally Posted by Graymalkin

The weather and Congress are fit for juvenile audiences only?

Many time, I can't think of any group more juvenile than Congress.

[aindik]

Originally Posted by Koan

ABC Family is already in the basic tier.

It's in the "extended basic" tier, but so is MTV and all the other "smut" they're complaining about. My understanding is that the "basic" ($12) tier consists only of over the air channels and some shopping channels. I looked it up in my neighborhood, and it has OTA channels, TBS (an OTA channel in Atlanta), Food Network, TLC, and public access and shopping channels. No ABC Family.

Also funny that CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News are not in this new Family tier either.

[pdhenry]

This is Comcast's (and the industry's) preferred implementation of a la carte pricing.

Personally I don't know how per-channel pricing without grouping into packages could pretend to compete price-wise with the existing model.

[nhaigh]

I like the idea. I don't think anyone will subscribe to it because it is POS programming that even my five year old daughter will be bored of in about two days. It does however give the cable operators a get out when criticized for all the sex and violence on TV these days - they can say if yo don't want that on your TV subscribe to the family plan - you have that choice now. Maybe then the morals police who presume to restrict my freedoms will finally shut up.

[Martyp]

Boy the poor kids . I must be a really bad dad my kids 7 and 17 both have all channels on diretv and I dont worry about it. I thought all these so called familys was why we have to put up with the v-chip.

Does the cable box not allow you to block channels like sat boxes do?

[smark]

Originally Posted by Martyp

Boy the poor kids . I must be a really bad dad my kids 7 and 17 both have all channels on diretv and I dont worry about it. I thought all these so called familys was why we have to put up with the v-chip.

Does the cable box not allow you to block channels like sat boxes do?

Oh they do. And we have been running commericals this past year saying that it can do that.

But this takes the work out of parents hands since they can't seem to do it themselves.

[jamesbobo]

Originally Posted by Martyp

Does the cable box not allow you to block channels like sat boxes do?

To quote the new FCC chairman, who also wants to regulate cable and satellite, "Yes, a parent could block channels, but why should they?"

Be afraid, be very afraid.

[Dmon4u]

The PTC responds:

http://www.parentstv.org/PTC/publica.../2005/1227.asp

LOS ANGELES – The Parents Television Council President L. Brent Bozell dismissed Comcast’s ‘family tier’ as more foolishness from the cable industry.

“The differences in Comcast’s and Time-Warner’s family tier channel lineups prove that even cable operators can’t agree on what constitutes ‘family’ programming,” said L. Brent Bozell, president of the PTC.

“As with Time-Warner, Comcast’s ‘family tier’ programming options certainly are designed not to interest most families. For instance, there aren’t any sports or movie channels that families could access. Comcast also believes families won’t want to access CNN, MSNBC, CNBC or the Fox News Channel.

“This offering is designed with the idea that most families would continue to opt for the expanded basic cable tier for just a few dollars more a month, not because they still want the raunchy programming, but because the family tier is so limited.

“Not only is family programming missing, but subscribers to Comcast’s ‘family tier’ would also be forced to take 20-25 channels on the ‘basic’ cable tier that they may believe are not family-friendly. In some markets, consumers will get TBS (with Sex & the City) and USA (with Law & Order reruns). These reasons completely defeat the purpose of a ‘family tier’ solution from the cable operators.

“This is more foolishness from the cable industry, another example of a major cable operator which owns the cable networks clearly working to undermine cable choice. We urge cable operators to give families real choice when it comes to cable television. The only option is to give consumers the ability to pick and choose the channels that they want, and pay for only what they want.”

[bicker]

What predictable hubris by the PTC. They act just like spoiled children.

[cheesesteak]

But they're right about one thing, you should be able to pick and choose whatever channels you want.

[bicker]

"Should"? Why? You should be able to accept any offer that any supplier finds profitable to offer. That's the only "should" I can see a defense for, in this situation.

[aindik]

Originally Posted by cheesesteak

But they're right about one thing, you should be able to pick and choose whatever channels you want.

"Should" is a matter of personal preference that should not be expressed through the government.

Let him campaign in the marketplace for a multichannel TV operator who will offer him that. Let him show multichannel TV operators that demand exists for this. But please do not campaign for government mandates on how things are offered for sale to you. It's anti-freedom and not wise economic policy.

Forgetting, for a moment, that if he wants a la carte, all he needs to do is put a BUD on his roof and subscribe directly through the channels themselves. It's out there now. He just doesn't think it's easy enough.

[jasoncarr]

Originally Posted by bicker

I'm guess that the criticism will start tomorrow. "Oh, my. It's so expensive!" <roll eyes> I think the critics who forced the industry into this action never understood the economics of the issue.

I think this alleged family plan is a Straw Man. "See what you made us do?"

It is the petulant footstamping of a coddled industry.

[zaknafein]

Good, let the PTC have their family teir, and leave the rest of us alone.

[bicker]

"Coddled" industry? That's pretty funny. The entertainment industry is pretty-much spit on at every opportunity. Music and video publishers regularly have their copyrighted property copied (stolen!) with impunity by miscreants who think they're above the law, and television stations regularly have self-important puritans constantly harranging them for giving the public what it wants.

[cwoody222]

Originally Posted by Dmon4u

The PTC responds:

http://www.parentstv.org/PTC/publica.../2005/1227.asp

LOS ANGELES – The Parents Television Council President L. Brent Bozell dismissed Comcast’s ‘family tier’ as more foolishness from the cable industry.

“The differences in Comcast’s and Time-Warner’s family tier channel lineups prove that even cable operators can’t agree on what constitutes ‘family’ programming,” said L. Brent Bozell, president of the PTC.

“As with Time-Warner, Comcast’s ‘family tier’ programming options certainly are designed not to interest most families. For instance, there aren’t any sports or movie channels that families could access. Comcast also believes families won’t want to access CNN, MSNBC, CNBC or the Fox News Channel.

“This offering is designed with the idea that most families would continue to opt for the expanded basic cable tier for just a few dollars more a month, not because they still want the raunchy programming, but because the family tier is so limited.

“Not only is family programming missing, but subscribers to Comcast’s ‘family tier’ would also be forced to take 20-25 channels on the ‘basic’ cable tier that they may believe are not family-friendly. In some markets, consumers will get TBS (with Sex & the City) and USA (with Law & Order reruns). These reasons completely defeat the purpose of a ‘family tier’ solution from the cable operators.

“This is more foolishness from the cable industry, another example of a major cable operator which owns the cable networks clearly working to undermine cable choice. We urge cable operators to give families real choice when it comes to cable television. The only option is to give consumers the ability to pick and choose the channels that they want, and pay for only what they want.”

If the PTV doesn't like this lineup why don't THEY propose one.

I'd love to see how many channels they could come up with that had ZERO objectionable shows on it.

[aindik]

Originally Posted by cwoody222

If the PTV doesn't like this lineup why don't THEY propose one.

Something tells me that, if they did, it would contain Fox News but not CNN. [ducks]

[bicker]

The sad part is that, despite intending it as a joke, you're probably correct.

[narnia777]

Why isn't TVland included? I would love a tier (on directv since that's what I have now) that had all those G rated channels and classic tv.

Jim