[Steko]

We only hear about this in mobile but I presume Comcast, Time Warner and friends do the same thing for broadband users, or is there some regulation that stands in their way?

For that matter I've always wondered why the tv industry pays so much for inaccurate Nielson data (sometimes still based on diaries) when presumably the cable providers have much more accurate data for many more users.

[kalleboo]

Because Nielsen gives them numbers they like. I'm sure the real data proves to advertisers exactly how few people really watch TV ads rather than skip/change channels/mute etc.

[Steko]

If so presumably the cable companies also know the networks are scared of seeing how many people flip channels during commercials and so they would package the data into larger chunks to hide this.