Entertainment

The big turn off: Fewer homes have TV sets

Don’t look now, but there are more US homes without TV sets than ever before.

It’s an historic reversal of trend — something like the birds flying north for the winter — but Nielsen yesterday reported that the number of TV households fell by 500,000.

The reason?

More people are watching TV on their computers, the ratings company said in an e-mail statement yesterday.

The drop from 114.7 million homes to 114.2 million is not huge — less than 1 percent. But because the number of TV homes has been rising steadily for decades, it is an indicator that the way people watch is changing.

Advertising rates are based on the numbers, and a change in the base could mean big trouble for the TV networks.

Nielsen said it’s working with the network and advertising clients on perhaps changing the definition of a TV home to include those with computers.

All but one of the big TV networks saw audiences decline last year. Only last-place NBC, which got a helping hand this year from the London Olympics, experienced an increase.