Last week's 10.3 overnight rating, which is an average of ratings in 49 metered markets, became a 9.5 when the national rating was calculated.

A. We started to measure in April in our major metered markets "time shifting," I call it.

"The national rating looks as if nobody outside the metered markets is watching," Hill said.

Fox's Nascar race broadcast generated a 5.0 rating, benefiting from viewership outside the large metered markets that initially produced a 4.1 overnight rating.

"The Fallen," as the reading of more than 700 names was called, reached only 52 of the 56 metered markets.

In its debut, the program placing a 0.8 rating/2 share in six metered markets.

At the same time, Nielsen converted Birmingham to a metered market in the fall of 1998 for ratings purposes.

Ratings also increased once Birmingham became a metered market, moving to 3 and 4 shares most nights early in the fall of 1998.

It finished in fourth place Monday night in the 40 metered markets measured by Nielsen in overnight ratings.

The episode earned the show's highest household rating in more than 10 months in the metered markets.