Nielsen Media Research is preparing its new Media Monitoring System (MMS) for DTV service. The MMS monitors broadcast stations in all 210 Designated Market Areas and provides broadcasting data to support ratings products, program verification of local station broadcasts of national TV programs, commercial verification, and verification of unscheduled broadcast content such as public service announcements and infomercials. The MMS will monitor more than 1,500 TV and cable broadcasts—both analog and digital—in the U.S. and Canada.

Nielsen has purchased 3,000 Optibase-distributed, VBox Communications DTA-101 digital TV receiver cards to incorporate into its media monitoring sites, enabling the company to monitor digital television. The DTA-101 digital TV receiver supports ATSC video and audio as well as ATVEF-compatible data reception. It utilizes software-based, high definition MPEG-2 video and Dolby Digital (AC-3) audio decoders.