Author: Mahony, Sheila; DeMartino, Nick; and Stengel, Robert

Publication Year: 1979

Media Type: Report

Summary:

The course of this investigation is evident in the organization of this final report. There are two different sections. Section I is a detailed recommendation and rationale for the creation of a new, nonprofit pay cable television network for the performing arts, culture and entertainment, founded with the help of public television, and produced with its cooperation. Section II is a series of five industry status reports covering satellite communications, cable television, pay television, home video, and videotext services. Because of the different stages of development and the fundamentally different natures of each technology, these industry reports vary considerably in their approaches.

Abstract:

The course of this investigation is evident in the organization of this final report. There are two different sections. Section I is a detailed recommendation and rationale for the creation of a new, nonprofit pay cable television network for the performing arts, culture and entertainment, founded with the help of public television, and produced with its cooperation. Section II is a series of five industry status reports covering satellite communications, cable television, pay television, home video, and videotext services. Because of the different stages of development and the fundamentally different natures of each technology, these industry reports vary considerably in their approaches. The reports on more predictable markets, like pay television and home video, offer quite specific recommendations. The satellite communications report is intended to illuminate the critical role satellites will play in any future communications infrastructure, but that report makes few pointed recommendations for action by public broadcasters. In the case of technologies like cable television and videotext services, our primary recommendations are made in the knowledge that most decisions will be made on a purely local level. Videotext is, however, so new and untried that much of the material is highly speculative.

The entire project was initially organized around these five industry reports. As we interviewed scores of experts, attended industry conferences, read background reports, and followed the unfolding events in numerous trade journals, we slowly focused our priorities onto the rapidly accelerating pay cable marketplace. The results of that more intense study are contained in Section I. The proposed new national pay cable service for the Performing Arts, Culture and Entertainment - PACE, for short - is one for which we believe there is a consumer need, a financial market, and most importantly, a social value.

In the development of the proposal for the PACE network, we sought to achieve the following objectives:

• To identify a use of nonbroadcast technologies that could be self-sustaining and still within the broad educational and cultural mission of public broadcasting.
• To structure a nonbroadcast service that improves the chances of survival and success for the primary broadcast service.
• To find a new source of funding for the support of programming.
• To enable public television to use more of its own discretionary funds on those programs that are more difficult to finance through subscriber payment.
• To devise a financial and organizational structure capable of withstanding the rigors of the marketplace, while maintaining the integrity of public television's noncommercial mission.
• To expand the opportunities for American artists, producers, and other professionals in the expanding communications industry.

CONTENTS
Preface.
Acknowledgments.
Introduction.

Part I. The proposal for PACE.

1. Summary.
2. Rationale and background.

Part II. Industry reports.

3. Domestic satellite communications.
4. Cable television industry.
5. Pay television.
6. The home video market.
7. Videotext services.

Appendix A. Financial projection for PACE. 
Appendix B. A prototype program schedule for PACE.
Glossary of acronyms.
Index.

Arts & Intersections:

Categories: Technology and Innovation