Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.trends From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: trends Tue, Feb 25 1992 Date: Tue, 25 Feb 92 06:35:01 EST Message-ID: DECISIONLINE: Trends & Marketing USA TODAY Update Feb. 25, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network SECOND ANIMATED SERIES DEBUTS: A prime-time animated series, "Fish Police," makes its debut Friday night on CBS. It's the second animated prime-time series this season. ABC's "Capitol Critters" premiered in January. In "Fish," there are a lot of double-entendres and fish jokes small kids won't get. "We're not aimed at 7-year-olds. ... Our audience is 12 years and up," says David Kershner of Hanna-Barbera. TV JUNKIES LOVE DISHES: For TV junkies, a satellite dish is the ultimate experience, providing the ability to receive everything TV can offer across the globe. A dish is "the greatest toy I've ever gotten," says "Who's the Boss?" executive producer Martin Cohan, who watches sports, the British Broadcasting Service and Caribbean TV. "I'm like a kid in a candy shop." (For more, see special Satellite package below.) ACTION SHOWS ON TAP: "Star Trek: The Next Generation" has been zipping through the galaxy - and Nielsen ratings - with such ease for the past five years that it's attracting attention. Competitors next year will launch five new action-hour shows. Paramount, the force behind "Next Generation," has two in the wings, including a spinoff of "Next Generation" called "Deep Space Nine." WOMEN'S COVERAGE EDGES UP: Women, 52% of the population, get relatively little coverage in news magazines, but more than before, according to Women in Communications. A study of August issues found that Newsweek's coverage dropped from 17% in 1989 to 13% in 1990 before increasing slightly to 18% last year. For U.S. News & World Report, coverage increased from 7% in 1989 to 10% last year. ENROLLMENT UP AT BLACK COLLEGES: The United Negro College Fund says trends are still on the way up for historically black colleges in the USA. UNCF President William Gray says enrollment at its 41 member schools hit 50,800 last fall. That's up 19% since 1986. U.S. college enrollment rose 12% from 1986 to 1990, while UNCF members saw a 17% increase. CABLE TV HITS REVENUE RECORD: Cable TV companies are raking in more money as more viewers tune in. Cable industry revenue reached an estimated record $20 billion last year. According to Paul Kagan Associates, the total monthly revenue per subscriber jumped from $14.17 in 1981 to $31.67 last year. PC PRICES PLUMMET: Personal computer prices are crashing through the floorboards. They may soon drop to $500 each. Monday, Compaq Computer slashed prices on its least expensive PCs by up to 36%. Its PC controlled by Intel Corp.'s 386 microprocessor is under $1,000, down from $2,800 a year ago. Mail-order giant Dell Computer Corp. cut prices 28% earlier this month and six companies have followed Dell's lead. NEW ACCOUNT BRINGS CHEAP TICKET: Coast Federal Bank has an agreement with Northwest Airlines to reward new account holders with discount tickets for trips before May 22. The airline has similar arrangements with other banks. Other airlines have stepped up promotions with banks, grocery and drug stores and the like. The airlines get free local advertising, attractive in markets new to the airline. CHEERS FOR AMERICANS IN FRANCE: There's a growing colony of Americans in the French Order of Arts and Letters. Warren Beatty is the latest to be named a commander of arts and letters by the French Culture Ministry. He'll pick up his honors Monday. Also recently honored were Sylvester Stallone and Lou Reed. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON SATELLITE: SYSTEMS WILL BECOME COMMON: Despite the recession, which dragged satellite dish sales down 10.5% last year (380,000 dishes sold in '90; 340,000 in '91), many in the industry predict that home satellite systems will eventually be transformed from a high-ticket, video buff item into a consumer product as common as the VCR. The USA's 3.6 million owners are most often those in rural areas or looking for alternatives to cable. CHEAPER, SMALLER DISHES COMING: Most dish owners have systems that receive signals from high-power C-Band satellites. These systems require 8-foot or 10-foot dishes, and cost $2,000-$5,000. But low-power KU-band systems that require less expensive 3-foot dishes are emerging. Several firms have positioned themselves to take advantage of this technology. NEW SERVICES BEING LAUNCHED: SkyPix says it will begin national distribution in April of low-power Direct Broadcast Satellite service. For $850, subscribers get a dish, a receiver and access to 80 channels, mostly pay-per-view. DBS is being sold as an alternative to the video store for movie lovers. In 1994, Hubbard Broadcasting and Hughes Broadcasting plan to launch DirecTV and United States Satellite Broadcasting. (End of package.) Trends & Marketing Editor: Beth Mann. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. 08:0002250000D0225 TRAV- R I Mixed-miles-can-taxed................. A D0225 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