Sorry if I was cranky andysandmikesmom.
Here is some of the info from the comcast site. http://www.comcast.com/Support/Corp1/FAQ/FaqDetail_1727. When you use interactive or other transactional television services, the cable system automatically collects certain information on your use of these services. Most of this information is not personally identifiable information and it is simply used, for example, to carry out a particular request you make using your remote control or set-top box. This information may include information required to change your television channel, review listings in an electronic program guide, and pause or fast forward through certain on demand programs, among other information. It may also include other information such as the time you actually use our services and the use of other features of our services, and which menus and menu screens are used most often and the time spent using them. In order to carry out a particular request you make to watch a pay-per-view program or purchase a product or service, for example, the cable system may collect certain personally identifiable information. This information typically consists of account and billing-related information such as the pay-per-view programs or other products or services ordered so that you may be properly billed for them. We may also combine personally identifiable information, which we collect as described in this notice as part of our regular business records, with personally identifiable information obtained from third parties for the purpose of creating an enhanced database or business records. We may use this database and these business records in marketing and other activities related to our cable service and other services. We also maintain records of research concerning subscriber satisfaction and viewing habits, which are obtained from subscriber interviews and questionnaires.
Glad that you used Comcast Cable as your reference, because that is the cable company that I called to make my inquiries...
I carefully read over what you printed up here...nowhere do they say that they use any information, which could in any way, ,be used to influence ratings of particular TV shows...what they seem to be concerned about, is what services they provide, do people use those services, how often do they use those services, and of course, things such as billing, marketing, customer satisfaction, etc...but nowhere is it ever mentioned that they do anything that can be construed as contributing to influencing ratings for any particular TV show, which is what we were discussing...
As far as I know, the main way that TV ratings are obtained, (and verified to me, by Comcast), is those Nielsen boxes, that x number of certain families voluntarily agree to have put on their TVs to specifically monitor which TV programs they watch...other ways could of course, things such a phone surveys, mail surveys, and the sponsors seeing an upsurge in their sales...
But as far as cable companies being able to know each and every show that their subscribers view, ,and then pass that info onto the TV industry, and thereby hope to influence ratings, is something that is just not so...
I did not find you crabby, just perhaps a little oversensitive to who was or was not talking about you behind your back..But I ,just found your view to be one which I do not agree with at all...