DirecTV offers Family Package
TV that censors itself? Well, sort of.
DirecTV is offering a new family package. At $34.99/month, the family-friendly package includes 40 channels, each more cuddly than the last. Toon Disney and CSPAN are among the channels available in the package.
The satellite companies are following the two largest cable companies, Comcast and Time Warner, in offering packages of channels intended to weed out programming that might be inappropriate for family viewing. The pay TV companies are under pressure from Kevin J. Martin, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, who has called for voluntary curbs on sexually explicit programming.
“Much of the intent here is to satisfy political pressure,” said Matthew Harrigan, an analyst at Janco Partners, who rates DirecTV shares as buy and EchoStar as hold. “At the same time, the companies don’t want to lose much revenue.”
This sounds like a neat solution to me. Parents should be concerned with what their children see on television, but honestly can’t be expected to hold their kids hands during every minute they spend in front of a TV. The option of parental lock-out is a huge hassle compared to this. This way, you can have family friendly viewing in the living room and a regular package in the bedroom in case you want to watch the Sopranos or something.
