Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!tamsun.tamu.edu!mtecv2!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Newsgroups: usa-today.trends,americast.usa-today.trends Subject: trends Mon, Aug 31 1992 Message-ID: Date: 31 Aug 92 08:51:28 GMT Organization: American Cybercasting Lines: 112 Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com 08-31 0000 DECISIONLINE: Trends & Marketing USA TODAY Update Aug. 31, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network GROWING PAINS CAN'T STOP PPV: While pay-per-view sports has yet to deliver the big home run everyone's expecting, it's found holes for some key hits. NBC and Cablevision's Olympics TripleCast is seen by most cable and sports executives as a pioneering effort in sports PPV. A recent Advertising Age reported TripleCast expanded the number of households with PPV capabilities to an estimated 22 million. (For more, see special PPV package below.) REFINANCING BOOM SEEN: More people are refinancing. The Mortgage Bankers Association expects to issue a record $850 billion dollars in mortgages this year; nearly half are for refinancing. Refinancing made up just 18% of all mortgages in 1985; and 13% in 1990. THERAPISTS DELUGED IN L.A.: Rocked by the aftershocks of riots, quakes and widespread layoffs, adults in Los Angeles are deluging therapists with anxiety problems. Inquiries at the UCLA Anxiety Disorders Program are up by as much as 50% in the last several months, says program director Alexander Bystritsky. "The earthquake (June 28) was the straw that broke the camel's back," he says. INSOMIA, DEPRESSION ON THE RISE: Insomnia, panic attacks and depression are rising, experts report. Marriages are crumbling under the weight. More people are seeking divorce mediation because one partner (usually the man) "isn't seen as pulling his weight economically," says marital therapist Angus Strachan. Partners with flexible sex roles weather the shakeups better, Talebi says. CONSTRUCTION JOBS TO RISE: As many as 7,000 construction jobs will spring up within six months to rebuild south Florida, says economist Bruce Thomson of the Florida Department of Labor. Plenty of unemployed construction workers will take the jobs, and the economy may soon look great. But in three to five years everything could drop off, says Douglas Woodward, an economist at the University of South Carolina. AIRLINES PONDER NEW SYSTEM: Continental Airlines and American are experimenting with a system designed to base fares on distance traveled instead of the predominant system of distance from hubs. Continental said Sunday it will increase fares by between $10 and $40 in about two-thirds of its markets, beginning Sept. 5. American, which has tried to adopt a similar system, said it will match Continental's fares. CONSUMERS DIPPING INTO SAVINGS: Americans dipped into savings to support their standard of living in July, the second consecutive month that income growth trailed consumer spending, the government said Friday. Spending increased a modest 0.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $4.08 trillion. "This can't go on forever," said economist Sandra Shaber of the Futures Group, a Washington-based consulting firm. MORE WOMEN DYING ON U.S. ROADS: The number of U.S. female drivers killed in accidents soared 53% between 1975 and 1991, while the numbers of male drivers killed over the same period fell 10%, studies show. "Women have always been thought to be much less of a problem than male drivers, but now they're emerging as a risk," says Susan Herbel of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. VIOLENT CRIME INCREASING: Violent crime reports soared to more than 1.9 million offenses in 1991, a 45% increase since the early days of the Reagan-Bush era in 1982, according to an FBI's annual report. The report is expected to put President Bush - deadlocked with Congress over new federal crime legislation - on the anti-crime defensive. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON PPV: TRIPLECAST WILL BE BACK: "The TripleCast was an excellent programming concept with some marketing glitches - and it will be back in some form, in '96," says Scott Kurnit, president of Showtime Event Television. Showtime and ABC Sports are set to launch the next trial balloon in sports PPV: The Operation Play, an 11-week season offering fans access to all four Saturday college football games ABC broadcasts. COLLEGE FOOTBALL TO BE EXPLORED: ABC and Showtime have set a goal of selling the college football package to 25,000 to 50,000 households during this one-year test. "As the cable industry builds out, with more channels for more targeted sports, there will be many opportunities to make available programming that was previously unavailable," Kurnit says. HOME TEAM SPORTS IS READY: Michael Ortman, marketing director for Home Team Sports, says regional cable networks like his are "poised and ready to be agents of distribution." He says his network is talking to the Atlantic Coast Conference about a PPV option similar to the ABC:Showtime deal as a counterpart to the ACC's broadcast TV contract. (End of package.) Trends & Marketing Editor: Michele Coleman. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM