How Does Cable Television in the Home Relate to other Media Use Patterns?

b Cable television, which first emerged about 1950, developed slowly for almost 30 years despite frequent predictions of rapid expansion, partly because of Federal Communications Commission regulations and partly because of economics.1 However, cable television now appears to be on the verge of becoming a major factor in the communications industry. The A.C. Nielsen Co. revised estimates of United States cable penetration to 25.3% of all homes as of February 1981or almost 20 million households.2 The rapid expansion of cable television and the development of mom advanced, interactive in-home communications systems, have raised crucial questions about the potential impact of these new technologies on the traditional print and broadcast media. Where will the audiences and the economic support for such "new" media as ca ble-TV come from? Almost a decade ago, McCombs advanced the Theory of Relative Constancy.3 This theory states that total expenditures on all forms of mass media is a relatively fixed proportion of the economy, and as new media arise, this fixed level of economic support is fragmented.