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Submitted: September 28, 2008 - 9:20pm
Last updated: October 1, 2008 - 3:12pm
Last updated: October 1, 2008 - 3:12pm
Source:
TVWeek
Author:
Michele Greppi
Friday night's presidential debate between Republican candidate John McCain and Democratic candidate Barack Obama drew a combined household rating of 33.2 in 55 of the 56 local TV markets metered by Nielsen Media Research. Thursday night's presidential address on the current economic crisis and rescue plan was watched by 52.7 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media numbers.
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Comments
I tuned into the debate and could not help wondering how many households would not have been able to watch the first presidential debate if it had been held on February 17, 2009 when the new digital TV conversion takes place.
According to the FCC Consumer Advisory Committee, there are about 70 million over-the-air TV's connected to antenna's. At last week's Senate Commerce Committee hearing, FCC Chairman Martin said that 15% of the TV's could lose all or some of their channels.
If a recent pilot study of TV signals in rural Hunterdon County is any indication of what is to come, 50% of the over-the-air viewers would have been unable to watch the presidential debate because their TV's went dark.
Regardless of whether you are a Democrat or Republican, an estimated 16 million over-the-air TV households across the country were at risk of missing the debate because the TV went dark.