Cable Communications Policy Issues: An Overview

Three perspectives-need-oriented, value-oriented, and technology-oriented-were used to develop an overview of cable comminications policy issues. A need-oriented perspective shed light on the specific policy issues in the five service areas of the community information system, consumer information system, teleshopping/telebanking, teleeducation, and telemedicine, and in the social experimentation of these services. A value-oriented perspective identified programming diversity as a more important social policy issue than economic efficiency in cablecasting. A corresponding research agenda is presented for policy and institutional changes to increase ideological and stylistic diversity in television programming. From a technology-oriented perspective, the most important development impinging on cable communication is that of fiber optics. The policy issues here are so far-reaching that research should be started now, along the direction of a specific research agenda, to study policy options dealing with the convergence of telephone systems and cable systems.