Within four years 40 percent of the country will have 500-channel capability … A micro-computer converter box will allow campaigns to send their messages to the family room and the parent’s bedroom, while avoiding the children’s room. This technology will clearly have a greater impact on voters who receive targeted messages.
Predictor: Conrad, Roger S.
Prediction, in context:The 1995 book “The Information Revolution,” edited by Donald Altschiller, carries a reprint of the July, 1994, Campaigns & Elections article “Winning Votes on the Information Super-Highway” by Roger S. Conrad. Conrad shares innovative ways politicians are using information technology. He writes: ”With channel compression – squeezing four, six or eight channels into one – moving forward and the increased use of fiber optics, Nation Media, Inc. president Robin Roberts estimates that ‘within four years 40 percent of the country will have 500-channel capability.’ Roberts says he expects about 20 percent of channel capacity will be dedicated to pay-per-view and video-on-demand. The remaining 400 channels, he says, would be programmed specifically … Roberts foresees the day when political TV spots will be targeted not just to large market areas (as they are usually done now) and not just to smaller zip codes, but to separate rooms in individual homes. ‘A micro-computer converter box will allow campaigns to send their messages to the family room and the parent’s bedroom, while avoiding the children’s room,’ says Roberts. ‘This technology will clearly have a greater impact on voters who receive targeted messages.”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Global Relationships/Politics
Subtopic: Campaigns/Voting
Name of publication: The Information Revolution (book)
Title, headline, chapter name: Winning Votes on the Information Super-highway
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Page 180
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Guarino, Jennifer Anne