Nielsen stands firm over criticism of digital TV readiness studies
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US-- Nielsen has rejected a call from the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) to change the way it measures how ready households are for this year's switchover to digital TV.
The association believes that Nielsen has underestimated the viewing population's readiness.
In a letter to Nielsen chairman David Calhoun, NAB president and CEO David Rehr questioned the firm's methodology, claiming: “Your reports classify as ‘completely unready' television households that have purchased converter boxes but not yet hooked them up, and households that have a converter box coupon they have not yet redeemed or have applied for a coupon but are waiting for it to arrive.”
Rehr said NAB's own research found that 40% of TV-owning households had bought digital converter boxes but not yet connected them and it was “unfair and misleading” to classify these homes as “completely unready”.
He warned that by understating the number of “truly prepared households”, the Nielsen reports could “contribute to an unnecessary level of concern that the transition is not going well among members of Congress and regulators at the Federal Communications Commission”.
Rehr closed by saying: “We urge you to change the classifications used in your research, or to at least distinguish between households that neither have coupons nor boxes - the ones we truly need to focus on - and those that have unused coupons and unconnected converter boxes.”
Nielsen was quick to rebuff Rehr's claims and a spokesman said: “We have been very clear about what our readiness updates include: we are reporting on whether people can actually receive a digital signal, not whether they are preparing to receive one.
“These estimates are based on actual visits to the homes of the people in our sample. As we've reported, there has been a steady decline in unready households in the ten months that we have been reporting this data.”
He said the firm had been working with the National Telecommunications Information Administration – the government body overseeing the switch to digital TV – and that Nielsen is “confident that our reports are the best available measure of the progress” of the digital switchover.
Author: James Verrinder
Related links:
Nielsen on standby for digital switchover
