A flood of new electronic technologies promises to usher in the Information Age and alter economic and social structures. Telematics, a potent combination of telecommunications and computer technologies, could eventually bring huge volumes of information to great numbers of people by making large data bases accessible to computer terminals in homes, offices, banks, post offices, government agencies, and other places. Communications between computers and data banks will be greatly enhanced through satellites, creating world-wide telematics networks. As these new electronic technologies grow, they will begin competing with one another for a "slice of the media pie." Cable television systems bring a wide array of information into the home, including signals from distant cities, pay television movies, and electronic publishing services. The variety of new communication channels will be accessible to and provide specialized programming for minorities and other individual groups. Although such "narrowcasting" is likely to fragment the public, providing little overlap in the interests or acquired information of individuals, such fragmentation will benefit advertisers, as well as allow businesses to reach specific groups of consumers through channels other than advertising. Already, smaller, more tightly targeted magazines are eroding the markets of previously mass circulating magazines. (HTH)