Neilsen

In 2009, the television industry closed shop on Guiding Light. In 2010, CBS will pull the plug on As the World Turns. Is it time to start worrying about One Life to Live, too? I'm afraid so. Over the holidays, One Life to Live posted horrible Nielsen numbers, the lowest ever in fact.

There are other reasons to be concerned about One Life to Live. All My Children was the New York soap opera that ABC decided to move to Hollywood. It was also the show that was transitioned to HD. One Life was not only left behind in New York -- in AMC's old studio space -- but the plans for it to begin broadcasting in high-def was delayed. ...It doesn't take a Rhodes scholar to see that One Life to Live is vulnerable and the network is not doing much to alter that impression.

Well, that's a relief. After months of speculation that NBC would be bringing Law & Order: SVU back for the 11th season without the two stars that have anchored the show, there's good news. Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni have re-signed with SVU. They pair agreed to stick with NBC's top-rated Neilsen drama for two more seasons.

Good news is probably an understatement. It's really great news because with SVU moving to Wednesday, 9 p.m., the show really didn't need to shake up the cast at this point in time. Stability mattered and NBC found a way to bring the two stars into the fold, offering them both the flexibility they sought.

According to an article in Variety, Google is paying Nielsen for demographic data regarding certain TV shows. Google dominates the Internet ad market to the point where billions of small sites use Google ads and it looks like they're trying to break into the TV business.

It's a logical business move on Google's part if they want to expand their business into more mainstream media. There has been a slow merger of television and Internet entertainment over the years (the most recent example being the episode download sites of every major network) and Google knows this and probably wants a piece of the action.

Perhaps Google will even get its own television show in the future. The Google Channel. What sort of television shows would be on it? I bet it'll have fantastic commercials, targeted specifically to the individual viewer. Or maybe not.

Neilsen Media Research is finally going to answer that question, now that it has decided to include college students in its ratings research. Starting next year, it will include dorm-bound and apartment-dwelling college students in its national sample of viewers. This could increase the coveted 18-24 viewership numbers from 3 to 12 percent. Neilsen estimates that college students who don't live at home with mom and dad watch 24 hours of television each week.

What did/do you watch during college? I actually didn't watch much television during college. All I remember watching is Conan O'Brien and South Park, which began in my junior year.