this is pretty simple folks, We have all sat here and whined about the lack of Free To Air coverage.

Let me explain this for those that may not understand, stations make money by selliing advertising...they get more money, based on how many people watch..if LOTS of people watch a show..they put more of that show on...so..you want FTA Bball?

watch the 9 coverage

By the way i dont work for 9..quite the opposite in fact :)

And if you aren't being surveyed re watching habits or have a meter on your TV?

so that narrows me's employer down to either channel 6 or channel -9?

Isaac, are you sure that how it works. I read on several internet sites, for example, that "The Chasers War on Everything" get 1,500,000 viewers. I'm sure that 1.5 million "chaser viewers" don't do surveys or have meters on their TVs. Do you thin that 1.5 million is just a guess? I would have thought that with today's incredible modern-day technology TV station would be able to tell how many people are watching their station and which shows they are watching. Prehaps they can simply detect waves being sent to and from peoples TV from the transmitter?

viewers is very similar to readership of newspapers its and extrapolation of numerical statistics based on a sample group. So if x% are watching of your sample group you can determine overall numbers based on this sample.

Nick, it's extrapolation based on those surveyed. So, if you don't have a box or aren't surveyed, then watching it means nothing in those viewing figures.

Spreading the word is the best bet.

Nick, Isaac is right.

That 1.5 million is actually just an estimate based on the % of people WITH ratings boxed that watched it.

I had one for a while.

It's a really crap system becuase the number of boxes out there is ridiculously low. From memory it's only 1000 or so.

So the way they work it out is that of the 1000 boxes out there, 75 people watched the Chaser.

That means, to them, 7.5% of the entire pouplation watched it. It makes NO allowance for geographical areas or any other number of potential influences. It does know ages, since you have to register them on the box to make it work.

So 1.5 million watched in according to them, but reality is that only 75 did for sure.

They're also wildly inaccurate since half the time people don't tell the box WHO is watching at the time.

For example, we had 6 people in our house registered on the box. My wife, me, 2 kids. We also added my in-laws since they were regular visitors.

The in-laws would stay for a while, watch some TV with us and the kids and then leave. If I didn't tell the box that they had left, everything I watched after that registered as 6 people watching when it could easily have been 1.

Or Vice Versa.

OK Isaac and Dicko, I believe you, but I'm really annoyed that they use such a shit system! Its pure luck whether people surveyed/have a box are basketball fans or not. They should at least tell you that the following information is based upon an estimate based on a survey. Is the same bullsh*t system used for radio ratings? I'm still surprised that there isn't the sufficient technology to pick the exact ratings.

Quick question: is Ms Brantz confirmed as host again?

Nick - not sure for radio, but I'd guess that it'd be even more low-tech. e.g., maybe log-book based or reliant on surveys.

Bo, I would think so but I don't actually know.

Thanks Nick. I'm sure Derek Rucker is a perfectly nice guy and all, but one person out of that two-person team last season was doing all the eye candy work - and it wasn't him.

In fact, isn't Rucker Sydney's media man now? And, in a strange quirk of fate, isn't Penny Taylor back in the country at the moment with a bit of downtime?

Wouldn't it make sense for a Taylor-Brantz combination?

Of course it would.

I don't really like having Derek Rucker as a presenter. He annoys me somehow and it's not just the fact that he looks like an alien.

Yeah, he does look like Sam Cassell..

Good to see 9 putting it back on FTA.

Isaac...Fair point regarding not being an owner of the ratings meter/book/tablet and chisel. but this is the answer...people talking about it...getting people (who have the measuring tools)to watch it..its all about revenue.

Kent..close but no cigar...in truth the opposite of working "for" 9..is working "against" 9 :)

Dicko...oh how i would love to have one of the measures in my house, the ratings figures would be amazing. Cycle speedway on channel 31 ratings winner for the week!!!

Isaac, I'm impressed! I think we should have EXTRAPOLATION as the word of the month!

Brilliant Idea Anon 150019. Everyone make sure they do this!

How do the meters work in households with 4 TVs? Wouldn't it be great if everyone knew where these metres were, you could advise all these households to tune in to Chanel 9 when the NBL show is on (regardless of whether they actually sit down to watch it or outside doin the gardening) and make it look like everyone in Australia is watching it.