By Frank Macek
Bad news for local Cleveland stations, as the bad economy has another unintended consequence - the loss of television households.
The Cleveland, Akron, Canton market is officially dropping one position to the 18th largest television market in the nation, according to Nielsen in recent news release.
Our local television housesholds have fallen from 1,524,930 in 2008/2009 to to 1,520,750 tv homes for 2009/2010.
Denver and Seattle gain ground while Tampa-St. Pete (Sarasota) and Miami-Ft. Lauderdale lost ground, along with Cleveland in the top 20 markets. Florida is seeing a population drop as people move back north.
Nationwide, television households are actually increasing nearly 400,000 since the last survey period. For the 2009-2010 broadcast season, the U.S. will have 114.9 million tv households, including those in Alaska and Hawaii.
Elsewhere across Ohio:
Columbus - falls 2 places to 34th
Cincinnati - falls 1 place to 33th
Dayton - falls 1 place to 65th
Toledo - unchanged at 73rd
Youngstown - falls 1 place to 110th
Zanesville - unchanged at 203
Wheeling, Steubenville - unchanged at 159th
To read the entire Nielsen report: CLICK HERE