The Change Mariner

Nielsen Media, TiVo Sign Agreement

USATODAY.com:

Nielsen Media Research, the company that measures television viewership, signed an agreement Thursday with TiVo to provide information on digital video recorder usage.

Television networks, concerned about declining ratings, have complained that Nielsen's measurements don't reflect the growing use of DVRs.

After many years of slow acceptance by consumers, DVR sales picked up last year and are expected to increase even more as cable companies build the product into their receivers. Forrester Research estimates there are 3 million DVRs in use, up from 1.7 million in 2002.