All this happened, more or less.

In the average home [in the US], a television set is turned on for more than a third of the day _ eight hours, 14 minutes, Nielsen said. That's an hour more than it was a decade ago. Most of that extra TV viewing is coming outside of prime time, where TVs are on only four minutes more than they were 10 years ago.

The average person watches four hours, 35 minutes of television each day, Nielsen said.

While people are watching more television, ratings for the big broadcast networks have declined steadily. That's a function of the greater number of channel choices available in each home, the company said.

One new Nielsen finding _ that young people aged 12 to 17 watched 3 percent more television during the season that ended in May than they had the previous year _ is a particular relief to TV network executives.