question for boffins

[mymonsterbeetleisbroken 16]

how do tv companies get the ratings for thier shows?[8)]

i mean how do they find out 15 million people watched eastenders last night? (i wasnt one of them!)[]

do they have someone run around counting how many tv's are tuned in to there channel or something?[?][?][?][?]

[nocontrolyet 0]

Try this for an answer...

http://www.barb.co.uk/about.cfm?flag=about

Hope that makes it clearer for you,

Neil

[ukclaire 0]

I heard its how many people go boil the kettle or something. It involves the electricity company I am sure.

Claire - could be completly wrong in which case blame Blue Peter. []

[mymonsterbeetleisbroken 16]

now i dont have to wonder about that anymore...............[|)]

thanks!

[lji86 0]

ive always wondered about that

[SJoerD 2]

You mean you don't know what the little men (occasionally with pointy red hats) are doing whenm they peek though your window...?

Alright, I'll expalin shortly. They either check what TV show you are watching, or they check if you are good boy and tell Santa that you should or shouldn't get that Tamiya kit for X-mas... [8D]

[Shodog 1835]

In my area the cable converters are connected to your phone line. while they say this is for ordering pay per view movies, it could juat as easily transmit back to the cable company what show your watching, how long and even when you flip it to the spice channel when the lady leaves the room for two minutes.

Jim