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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Whodat" data-source="post: 619880" data-attributes="member: 7386">Only if you look at from the perspective of “You (the viewer) don’t pay for these programs, so be happy with what you get.”But I think you’re missing the bigger picture.Networks go through a lot of effort trying to find out how many people watch certain programs at certain times. They also need to know which demographics watch what shows. This helps them know which advertisements to run during certain programs. This research has even spawned its own industry. AC Nielsen harvests these numbers and in turn sells their data back to the networks. Yes. They sell the information. It isn’t free.So, in a hypothetical situation wherein a show (for this example, I’ll call it… “Farscape”) had a loyal following, but let’s say that the viewing numbers were not accurately represented in the Neilsen research data. Now let’s say that the network which airs Farscape (I’ll call them “Sci-Fi”) had shelled out money to AC Nielsen for their flawed research data. Would you say that the network “got what it paid for?”Or look at the advertisers who paid money to the Sci-Fi channel for their airtime. Advertisers, who have been told which programs are being watched by key demographic audiences. Advertisers who can pull ads from programs which they deem offensive, or aren’t reaching the right audience. Would you say that the advertisers “got what they paid for?”The problem, as I have stated before, is that the rating system is broken. If there are 250 million people in the U.S., and roughly 95% of the households have television sets, how can Neilsen Media Research poll only 5,000 households and call that a sampling? I find it staggering that in an age of cell phones that e-mail, televisions that get 300+ channels via satellite, and self-adhesive postage stamps (don’t ask), NMR is relying on the same polling size that they were using twenty years ago.I’ve heard it mentioned that NMR is “looking into” an eventual sampling of TiVo viewers – with no mention on why it hasn’t already happened, or how much longer it will take to implement. When NMR finally starts looking into larger slices of what we actually are watching – then sponsors will be getting what they are paying for./End rant.I do like your idea of a fan-based production company, though. "I'd buy that for a dollar!"</blockquote>

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