Heading into the 2009-10 television season, Nielsen said total U.S. TV homes have increased by 400,000 to 114.9 million, a considerably smaller increase than the 1.7 million that came a year ago.

The top-10 markets remained the same in rank and all gained TV homes, although the eighth-largest -- Boston -- saw an increase of just 1,100 homes, with Atlanta set to possibly pass it next year. New York gained the most homes of any of the 210 DMAs: up about 60,000.

The highest-ranked DMA to experience a decrease was Detroit at No. 11, which lost nearly 37,000 homes. Top-50 DMAs showing notable jumps include Denver, which passed Miami and Cleveland, along with Salt Lake City and Harrisburg, Pa.

Four years after Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans-area population continues to rise, increasing 5% over the past year, according to new Nielsen figures. And the Big Easy jumped over the Buffalo and Providence markets in size, while moving to the cusp of the top-50 markets.

The New Orleans DMA -- which had the highest percentage increase of any market over the last year -- now stands at No. 51.

Even before the real-estate crash, many Floridians were leaving the state due to a high cost of living and four DMAs there -- Tampa, Miami, Ft. Myers and Tallahassee -- saw population losses in the last year.

With the exception of Green Bay, Buffalo is now the smallest market with an NFL team with some 633,000 TV homes, although the Bills draw fans and TV audiences from neighboring Toronto.

With a roiling real-estate market, Las Vegas still remained the 42nd-largest DMA. The small Waco, Texas market soared five spots with a gain of about 10,000 TV homes.

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