This volume brings together leading academic researchers and industry professionals to discuss the underlying factors that determine where cable TV advertising is today and what can and should be done in the future. The authors are united in their belief that cable TV advertising has not lived up to its original promise because key players--system operators, programmers, and advertisers--still act as if cable TV is an alternative to traditional mass audience broadcast rather than a fundamentally new and unique medium. If the industry is to realize its promise, the contributors argue, it will happen only in light of a fundamental reassessment of its strategic position within the overall communications and information-technology environment. Taken together, the chapters presented here offer both new insights to industry professionals and new research ideas to students of cable communications.

The chapters are organized into three sections around the themes of industry analysis, implications for advertisers, and new developments. In the first section, the editors present a strategic overview of cable TV advertising followed by an assessment of its current status and an examination of programming opportunities for cable network. The second group examines such issues as the television viewing environment, collecting ratings data for cable channels, and the relationship between program impact and advertising impact. Concluding chapters offer a look at new horizons in cable TV advertising, including in-home shopping programs and pay-per-view programming.