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I agree with you completely that to watch it is a mistake. I don't even own a TV, and I don't miss it. However, there is some kind of weird assumption that always floats in the background of these discussions: That somehow the networks will know whether or not I watch a particular show.

I always thought that there were some individuals who had special "boxes" attached to their TV's, and that the networks know what these "special" individuals watch, but if I had a TV, I wouldn't be one of them. So how could the networks know? Or do all TV's transmit information to the networks via radio or something? I doubt it.

That leaves increased product sales as the only possible way to know the extent of conservative viewership. However, if the show itself is making you sick to the stomach and angry, that wouldn't have much of a tendency to reinforce buying behavior would it? So it is difficult for me to understand how someone could help them out by watching their own TV if they truly understand how vile CBS really is.

Of course, why let the filth into your brain in the first place? Or the brains of your family members? But the networks are not omnicient.

The network ratings are determined by a combination of sources. Nielsen has several thousand homes with electronic sensor which detect which channels are being watched. But they also mail out several hundred thousand diaries to people around the country to complete during "sweep months" and conduct telephone surveys.

If you're not participating in any of those ways, then the networks have no way of knowing whether you saw the show or not.

With no TV - you don't have a Cable box which these days are two-way receivers to download previews and order movies. It is comprehensible that viewing statistics could be easily accumulated in real time and valuable to the marketplace.

The Nielsen ratings organization sends out TV diaries to people at random thruout the country, I got one in 1998, and I listed in that diary all the shows that my family watched for a one week period. This was during the summer sweeps period. And a certain number of homes have set top boxes installed that record what shows are watched. My grandmother had one attached to her TV in the 80's.