Nielsen Drops 'TV Channels Receivable' Service

Nielsen has withdrawn 'TV Channels Receivable', a reporting service which showed how many channels the average TV household receives. The firm cites the change in the way channels are presented by different multi-channel providers as the reason behind the move.

Channels receivable and viewed has been a 'popular feature' of Nielsen's Television Audience Report for many years. But the firm says that with the evolution of digital TV technology, one channel no longer represents a single viewing source.

For example, one provider may offer fifty different video-on-demand content choices, via fifty individual channels; while another provide may offer the same fifty content choices via a single 'channel' on an interactive menu.

'With nearly two thirds of all homes receiving multi-channel digital service today - either through digital cable, Telco or DBS - there is no consistent means of measuring how many programming sources are available to homes,' the firm said in a statement. 'We have therefore removed this reporting from the Television Audience Report.'

Since the introduction of its A/P (active/passive) meters, Nielsen says it has stopped measuring 'channels' and begun measuring individual 'programs'.

'With so many different channels and tiers of channels available, it is no longer possible to put together a meaningful estimate of what the average household gets,' the firm added.

Web site: www.nielsen.com .