How does TV channel know how many viewers watched certain program?
If you are one of the households being monitored, you would KNOW it because the ratings people would have given you equipment which record what you are watching and when you watch. In the case of cable and satellite, the digital decoder boxes are “smart” boxes and can be queried remotely just like the ratings monitor boxes to find out what you watch and when. The ratings people simply count how many people are watching what from a SAMPLE of the population and then estimate. In either case, an actual ratings monitor, or the cable and satellite smart boxes, they CAN identify YOU (your household actually, not you as a person, unless you live by yourself) specifically. TIVO does this to target you with suggested programs based on your viewing history. In the case of analog cable or if you use rabbit ears, they can NOT know anything about what you watch and when because there is nothing to keep track. If you have digital cable or satellite or TIVO, how do you like being spied on to keep tra
