INDUSTRY-BY-INDUSTRY OUTLOOK : The Year in Preview

California came several years late to the nation’s economic recovery party, but the state should be celebrating all through 1997.

Here is what key industries will be up to:

TELEVISION: After a year of unprecedented consolidation in the radio and TV business, mergers will slow in 1997. While cable stocks are under attack because of high debt levels, many analysts say their pipe into the home is the widest. The long-promised roll-out of digital boxes could give cable equal footing with satellite and ring up new near-video-on-demand revenues if it is marketed correctly.