Cox Latest MSO to Offer Family Tier

Cox Communications has joined Comcast and Time Warner in offering a family-friendly programming tier.

The privately held Cox announced late Tuesday that it will offer a package of approximately 40 channels at a cost of about $32 per month, beginning with a first quarter rollout to subscribers in its Fairfax, Va., San Diego and Tulsa and Oklahoma City, Okla. systems.

Long an advocate for parental controls, Cox said the family tier package will include a digital set-top box with a front-loaded interactive program guide that walks parents through the channel-blocking process.

"We are pleased to offer this package to our customers who are concerned about certain content entering their home," said Cox president Pat Esser in announcing the tier. "In addition to our new family package, I encourage parents to explore parental controls as well as Cox's Take Charge initiative."

Cox said that its main criterion for inclusion is that the networks must offer G rated fare "suitable for family viewing with minimal chance of objectionable content or disturbing images." The MSO also selected networks with minimal live programming.

In addition to local broadcast affiliates, the new tier will include Disney Channel, Discovery kids, Headline News, National Geographic Channel, HGTV, DIY, Nickelodeon, Fit TV, Sprout, Weather Channel (or Weatherscan Local), Discovery Science, CSPAN, Boomerang, GSN, Univision, TV Guide Channel and at least one home shopping network.

Cox will also add a religious network and additional Spanish language nets on a location-by-location basis.

Time Warner and Comcast announced their own family-friendly tiers at the tail end of 2005.