TV & VIDEO - Jan. 25, 1989

A favorite pastime nowadays is speculating on whether the Big Three in TV--NBC, CBS and ABC --will be extinct by the year 2000, the victims of new competition, affiliate preemptions and maybe their own shows. Millions of words have been written about that possibility. Life magazine’s February issue, a special edition titled “The Future and You,” takes its turn. After giving great thought to the matter, the magazine, in a page headlined “Say Goodby To . . .” comes to a one-paragraph conclusion that indicates goodbys can be iffy, even for futurists. Says Life, which shares a parent company with pay-TV giant Home Box Office: “Competition from cable and entertainment systems catering to highly individual tastes may deliver a TKO to television’s Big Three.”