Cable TV has experienced tremendous growth as an advertising medium because it has some important advantages. Aprimary one is selectivity. Cable subscribers tend to be younger,more fluent, and better educated than nonsubscribers and have 1greater purchasing power. Moreover, the specialized programmingon the various cable networks reaches very general target markets. 2 Many advertisers have turned to cable because of theopportunities it offers to narrowcasting, or reaching very 3specialized markets. For example, MTV is used by advertisers in the United States and many other countries to reach teenagers and young adults. CNBC is now the worldwide leader in business news and reaches a highly educated and rich audience. ESPN hasbecome synonymous as sports and is very popular among 4advertisers who want to target men of all ages. Advertisers are also interested in cable because of its low cost and flexibility. Advertising rates on cable programs are muchlower than that for the shows on the major networks. Advertising 5time on network shows can cost two to three times as much on acost-per-thousand basis of in some time periods. 25 Spot 6advertising is also considerately cheaper on most cable stations, 7while local cable is most affordable television advertising vehicle 8available. This makes TV a much more unviable media option for 9smaller advertisers with limited budgets and those interested intargeting their commercials to a well-refined target audience. Also, 10cable advertisers generally do not have to make the large up-front commitments, which may be as much as a year in advance, the networks require.