Ears On

Family-tier cable packages are drawing fire from family activists—and regulators are listening. Brent L. Bozell of the Parents Television Council is an especially loud complainer. He dismisses Time Warner Cable's family tier as "a very bad joke.... It is perfectly obvious Time Warner is deliberately offering a product designed to fail. According to Time Warner, no family should want to watch sports. According to Time Warner, no family should want to receive any news channel other than Time Warner's CNN. According to Time Warner, classic movies are not appropriate for families. And neither is religious programming.... I bet you couldn't find five employees of Time Warner who would subscribe to this foolishness for their own families." Bozell bared his teeth in December but a recent echo by Federal Communications Commission chair Kevin Martin lent greater weight to his "legitimate concerns." Martin added that members of Congress are equally concerned. Both parent groups and the FCC appear to be moving toward their previously stated preference for letting consumers order cable and satellite service channel by channel, à la carte—or to use the PTC's resonant phrase, "cable choice."