Major cable nets boycott Nielsen commercial ratings

Cory Bergman October 25th, 2006

MTV Networks, Discovery Networks, ESPN, NBC Universal Cable and Turner Broadcasting System have all told Nielsen that they will opt out of the new commercial ratings system, which is scheduled to launch in December. The issue centers on how Nielsen measures commercial breaks on cable, which are more difficult to track than broadcast breaks. Early results show that ratings drop 6-12 percent during commercial breaks, so Nielsen is under incredible scrutiny from both cable and broadcast execs.