According to the latest research from Nielsen, Americans devote more time than ever to watching television. The TV ratings service attributes the all-time high in TV viewership per household per day--a whopping 8 hours, 11 minutes for the 2004-2005 season--to the increase in available channels and number of TVs per household. A couple of more nuggets from the report:   

• The average individual watched 4 hours, 32 minutes of TV per day last season, the highest level in 15 years.
• The average U.S. home now receives more than 100 channels of programming.
• The average household watches 1 hour, 53 minutes of prime-time TV per day.
• During 2005's premiere week for prime-time programming, an average of 62 percent of American households were watching TV.

The press release and an Excel sheet documenting TV viewership from 1949 to the present is available on Nielsen's Web site. If you find these kinds of numbers as disturbing as I do, you may want to check out some TV alternatives at tvturnoff.org.

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