Tuned out?

Like many college students, senior Kelli Foster makes sure to catch the latest episodes of popular TV shows such as “Desperate Housewives” and “Grey’s Anatomy” each week.\nShe doesn’t, however, watch them when they’re first broadcast.\n“I DVR all my programs,” she said. “I just don’t have time to watch 50 minutes of commercials.”\nThe advent of new technologies such as digital video recorders is great for those who want to watch TV on their own schedules and without advertisements, but bad news for the networks trying to track viewers.\nThe four major networks – Fox, NBC, CBS and ABC – are \nattracting 2.5 million fewer viewers than they were at this time last year, according to an Associated Press article published earlier this month.\nThis spring, Nielson ratings are tracking homes that use DVRs for the first time, but viewings only count toward ratings if a program is watched within 24 hours of its recording.\nThat doesn’t necessarily mean people are watching less TV, however. Foster says she thinks she’s actually watching more TV now that she has a DVR.\n“It’s just more convenient to watch TV at my own pleasure instead of working around the network’s schedule,” she said.\nFurther reducing the number of TV viewers is the availability of programming online. Video sharing sites such as YouTube offer TV viewers thousands of new options from amateur directors around the world.\nIn addition, the site has been flooded with copyrighted clips of network programming, provoking a mixed reaction from the entertainment industry.\nIn March, Viacom Inc., which owns CBS and MTV among other TV networks, sued YouTube for $1 billion, claiming damages for copyright infringement.\nRather than fight such Web sites, ABC has begun offering full-length programs on its site the day after they are broadcast free of charge. The shows still contain commercials, but usually not as many as during a prime-time showing.\nJunior Ashley DeCamp gets her weekly fix of “Grey’s Anatomy” from ABC’s Web site.\n“I don’t have a TV, so watching it online is a great way to catch up,” she said.\nDecamp did say, however, that if she owned a TV, she would probably watch the shows when they air rather than catch them online.\nSenior Justin Moore continues to watch TV the old-fashioned way.\n“I just have cable and watch it two or three hours a night, if not more,” he said. \nMoore said he does not own a DVR and does not have much need to watch TV shows online.