Responding to regulatory pressure, Comcast, the largest cable operator in the United States, unveiled a Family Tier of programs that excludes channels likely to show adult-oriented content.

Comcast, based in Philadelphia, joins Time Warner in offering a family-friendly channel package that could blunt the U.S. Federal Communications Commission’s call for all-out per-channel, or à la carte, pricing (see FCC Open to à la Carte Cable).

Shares of Comcast rose $0.12 to $26.58 in recent trading.

A little more than a week ago, Time Warner, the second-largest cable operator in the U.S., announced a family package that attracted a lot of negative criticism for the programs it excluded (see Cable’s à la Carte About-face).

It included much of the family fare that Comcast is offering, such as the Disney Channel, C-SPAN2, HGTV, CNN Headline News, and the Weather Channel. But it excluded sports, religious programming, most news channels, and classic movie fare.

Comcast must have been reading some of the commentary on Time Warner’s family package because it included Trinity Broadcasting, a religious channel. Comcast subscribers who choose the Family Tier will be allowed to subscribe to a premium channel such as Showtime or HBO.

When it debuts in early 2006, Comcast’s family-programming package will have an average of 35 to 40 channels. It will include 16 family-friendly networks of G-rated content as well as all broadcast channels (ABC, NBC, CBS, UPN, WB, Fox, and PBS).

It will also include Hispanic programming, such as the Univision and Telemundo networks, and public access programming.

Undercutting Time Warner

Family Tier subscribers 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, which averages about $12 per month. The 16 Family Tier channels will go for $14.95 per month, and a digital cable set-top box will cost about $4.25.

In comparison, Time Warner’s Family Choice subscribers pay $33 a month for about 35 channels.

“Offering a Family Tier to our customers is one more step in Comcast’s efforts to provide a broad array of family-friendly programming,” said Steve Burke, chief operating officer of Comcast. “The Family Tier will include some of our most popular children’s, Hispanic, and religious programming, as well as broadcast networks and local access channels.”

After the FCC proposed à la carte pricing as a preferred option for cable subscribers, the cable association opposed the move. But the major cable operators—including Cablevision, which supported the FCC from the start—seem to have since softened their opposition (see Cablevision Backs à la Carte and Time Warner Pans à la Carte).

The fact that the two largest players have unveiled family subscription plans most likely means that many of the remaining operators will follow suit.