This assessment of the possible impact of the cable television industry upon public television relies primarily on audience demographic characteristics as a convenient summary indicator and, in many instances, the only kind of evidence available for review. Primary sources of information used were the national Nielsen ratings; mail surveys of American homes conducted by the Electronic Media Tracking Service (EMTS); and a national mail survey of 2,375 homes conducted by the Benton and Bowles advertising agency. Standard industry sources such as CABLEFILE/83, the trade press, and various other audience studies were used to supplement the major sources. Following an introduction, the report includes the following sections: (1) Cable Television (Dimensions of the Cable Industry and Description of Cable Subscribers); (2) Cable Television's Impact on Television Viewing (including Share of Viewing, Number of Channels Viewed, and What Is Viewed on Public Television); (3) Viewing and Evaluation of Cable Programming Services (Types of Cable Programming Services and Pay Cable Services); (4) How Will Cable Program Services Survive? (Premium and Non-Premium Channels, and the Failure of CBS Cable and The Entertainment Channel); (5) Public Television's Survival in a Cabled Nation (including Cable Television's Negative Impact on Public Television); and (6) A Brief Summary and Some Suggestions (Exploiting the Strengths of Public Television, Rejectors of the New Technologies, and Keeping the Mandate Broad). Appendices include public television demographics and a table of satellite-fed basic cable services that accept advertising. (THC)