• Arizona Daily Star, Monday, July 9, 2007 10:56 AM

An Arizona TV station is losing ground in the ratings in key categories even after its switch to high-definition broadcasting of its local news. At the 10 p.m. slot, KVOA slipped from an 8.7 rating in February to just 6.3 in May, and it saw similar slides at both 5 p.m. and 6 p.m.

Said Gary Nielsen, president and general manager of KVOA Communications Inc.: "I find it hard to believe that our newscasts went down." And even in the face of it, he adds there are no plans to change the format. He is "confident that in the next ratings book in the fall, the numbers will be back in sync." Part of the swoon is likely tied to its affiliation with NBC, itself in a ratings dive.

"The NBC network is literally the No. 4 network," says media buyer Judy Taylor of Unboxt Media. "So I'm really not surprised. If NBC is having lower prime-time numbers, it's going to affect their [affiliate] programming. It's nothing they can do and fix."

Read the whole story at Arizona Daily Star »