English Entertainment
Time Warner announces ‘family-friendly’ cable package
MUMBAI: Time Warner Cable has been the first mover in offering the a la carte of cable networks with its plan to sell a family package of 15 channels starting next year.
Time Warner’s package is priced at $12.99 and includes Boomerang, Discovery Kids, The Science Channel, Disney Channel, Toon Disney, Nick Games and Sports, La Familia, The Weather Channel, C-Span-2, C-Span 3 and Headline News.
The move has come in response to the pressure from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that stepped up its push for curbs on indecent programming and adult-skewing networks.
Subscribers of the family tier would have to order a set-top box for $7.95 a month and the most basic cable package, which includes local broadcast and public access channels, for about $12 a month. In total, consumers will pay about $33 a month.
According to media reports, the package also includes less obvious family networks namely the Scripps Television group of channels, DIY Network, its Food Network, and home decorating network, HGTV, as well as the Fox Cable network, Fit TV.
“We selected channels that were G-rated in nature, did not include ‘live’ entertainment programming and which contained content that was generally perceived as acceptable for the entire family to view,” Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt said in a statement.
Hallmark Channel, Discovery Network, and even Cartoon Network, which sports a late night Adult Swim programming block, didn’t meet the criteria. Even Nickelodeon was considered objectionable as it broadcasts old television sitcoms at night.
Other cable providers including Comcast, Advance/Newhouse Communications, Insight Communications, Midcontinent Communications and Bresnan Communications also plan to offer programming geared toward families are also expected to announce similar packages.
English Entertainment
Ellison takes his Paramount-Warner Bros case straight to theater owners
The Skydance chief goes to CinemaCon with promises and a skeptical crowd waiting
CALIFORNIA: David Ellison strode into a room packed with thousands of cinema owners and executives at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Thursday and did something rather bold: he looked them in the eye and asked them to trust him.
The chief executive of Paramount Skydance vowed that his company would release a minimum of 30 films a year if regulators greenlight its proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, a deal that has made theater owners deeply, and loudly, nervous.
“I wanted to look every single one of you in the eye and give you my word,” Ellison told the crowd. “Once we combine with Warner Bros, we are going to make a minimum of 30 films annually across both studios.”
It was a confident pitch. Whether it landed is another matter. Cinema operators have already called on regulators to block the deal, and scepticism in the room was hardly concealed.
Ellison pushed back by pointing to recent form. Paramount, born from the merger of Paramount Global and Skydance Media last August, plans to release 15 films this year, nearly double the eight it put out in 2025. Progress, he argued, was already underway.
He also threw theater owners a bone they have long been chasing: all films, he pledged, would run exclusively in cinemas for a minimum of 45 days, drawing applause from a crowd that has spent years fighting for exactly that commitment across the industry.
“People can speculate all they want,” Ellison said, “but I am standing here today telling you personally that you can count on our complete commitment. And we’ll show you we mean it.”
Fine words. The regulators, however, will have the last one.
