News: February Sweeps moving to March for 2009

Nielsen, the tv ratings firm, has announced that the February sweeps period in 2009 will move from February to March next year.

With the move from analog to all digital TV on February 17, 2009, Nielsen feels that keeping sweeps during the same month might be an inaccurate assessment of a local station's performance.

Also, Nielsen will begin to test ratings collections on digital-only stations this December.

To read more from Broadcasting and Cable: CLICK HERE

News: New HDTV Study Released

Nielsen has released a new study that finds 13.7% of TV households in the U.S. are equipped with an HD television and HD tuner capable of receiving signals in HD (HD Capable), while 11.3% are equipped with an HD television and HD tuner and receive at least one HD network or station (HD Receivable).

Los Angeles has the highest penetration of HD Capable homes (20.4%) and New York has the highest penetration of HD Receivable homes (17.5%). Nielsen also reports that among U.S. Hispanic or Latino households, 10.4% are HD Capable and 8.2% are HD Receivable.

Among African-American households, 8.1% are HD Capable and 6.9% are HD Receivable.

To view the charts and tables, you can download the study: CLICK HERE

Courtesy: Nielsen

News: Sweeps Dates for 2008

For those of you interested in TV sweeps dates, here is a list of the 2008 dates issued by Nielsen:

January 2008: 1/3-1/30
February 2008: 1/31-2/27
May 2008: 4/24-5/21
July 2008: 7/3-7/30
October 2008: 10/2-10/29
November 2008: 10/30-11/26

News: HDTV Owners Love New TV, Dislike Programming

According to new study from Nielsen, HDTV owners are generally satisfied with the picture quality of the programming they receive.

However, the figures also show those same owners are less than thrilled about HD programming choices currently available.

About 85% of the queried HD households ranked picture quality as "above average" or "excellent" while only 39% gave those ratings to programming selections.

The study also found owners who frequently watch HDTV at home gave the following responses about the types and networks they watched most for each:

Sports (42.8%) - Most watched ESPN HD
Movies (38.0%) - Most watched HBO HD
Scripted Dramas (28.1%) - Most watched CBS HD
Documentaries (23.8%) - Most watched Discovery HD
Scripted Comedies (19.4%) - Most watched CBS HD
Reality Programming (11.1%) - Most watched Fox HD
Music (9.6%) - Most watched PBS HD

Read the entire study, CLICK HERE

Courtesy: Nielsen.com

News: Nielsen Releases New 2008 TV Market Rankings

Nielsen has released the local television market universe estimates for 2008 which will be effective September 22nd for the 2007-2008 TV season. These determine market sizes for each city based on the number of TV Homes in Designated Market Areas (DMA).

This year, many of the increases are in the Southern and Western regions of the United States. Of the 51 markets that moved up in rank, more than half are located in the Sunbelt. These changes are consistent with the U.S. Census Bureau's most recent annual population estimates, which indicate increased population growth in these areas.

The Cleveland-Akron-Canton DMA remains #17 with an estimated 1,533,710 TV homes, or a 1.36% percentage of US TV homes.

These estimates, which are projected to January 1, 2008, will be used in meter market samples beginning with the data of Sept. 22, 2007, and in diary samples with the publication of the October/November surveys.

Notable changes in the rankings:

GAINERS

*Dallas-Fort Worth moved up 1 to #5, surpassing San Francisco
*Atlanta moved up 1 to #8, surpassing Washington, D.C.
*Phoenix moved up 1 to #12, surpassing Tampa-St. Petersburg
*Charlotte moved up 1 to #25, surpassing Indianapolis
*Harlingen-Weslaco, Texas, moved up 3 to #88
*Boise, Idaho, moved up 5 to #113
*Palm Springs, Calif., moved up 5 to #144
*Anchorage, Alaska, moved up 4 to #150
*Harrisonburg, Va., moved up 3 to #178
*Lima, Ohio, moved up 11 to #185

LOSERS

*Memphis moved down 3 to #47
*Dayton, Ohio, moved down 4 to #62
*Youngstown, Ohio, moved down 3 to #106
*Traverse City-Cadillac, Mich., moved down 3 to #116
*Wichita Falls, Texas-Lawton, Okla., moved down 3 to #149
*Bluefield-Beckley-OakHill, W.Va., moved down 5 to #155
*Wheeling, W.Va.,-Steubenville, Ohio, moved down 4 to #159
*Hattiesburg-Laurel, Miss., moved down 3 to #168

To view the complete list of markets from #1 to #210: CLICK HERE

Courtesy: Nielsen