Nielsen ratings rule gets rewrite

October 09, 2007 Nielsen Media Research has reversed its rule change that allowed NBC to add ratings to "Heroes" in its season premiere from an identical rebroadcast later in the week. The move, announced Tuesday, will go a long way toward satisfying Nielsen's clients who were unhappy not so much that "Heroes" was boosted but that NBC got to drop an hour of low-rated primetime ratings out of its weekly averages. "Clients told us that it was essential for the ratings to the individual telecasts to remain available so that the viewing to each telecast can be analyzed separately and to ensure there is no ratings gap in any time period," Nielsen said in a client letter.

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