New York - More than 6.5 million U.S. households, or 5.7% of all homes, are not ready for the upcoming Feb. 17 transition when analog TV signals will be shut off and replaced with digital-only broadcasts, according to a report from the Nielsen Company.

White Plains, N.Y. - While overall U.S. music unit sales, which includes songs, albums, vinyl, music videos and ringtones, climbed 10.5% to 1.5 billion in 2008, total album sales -- including 10-song digital track groupings -- fell 8.5% to 428.4 million, according to a report from Nielsen SoundScan. Sales of physical albums like CDs fell 20%, to 362.6 million, and are off by 45% since 2000. Meanwhile, digital album sales were up 32% in 2008, to 65.8 million units, and digital track sales grew 27% to reach a record 1.07 billion.

Washington - A recent survey by Nielsen, the large media rating service, has found that Washington has the largest percentage of HDTV users of all large markets in the country, with a 31.1% penetration rate.

Los Angeles - Entertainment trade publication The Hollywood Reporter, owned by the Nielsen Company, has laid off more than a dozen employees, the majority of whom were part of the company's editorial staff, Variety reported.

New York - The Nielsen Company and advertising giant WPP announced that they have agreed to swap certain assets, in a deal that will among other things give Nielsen full ownership of AGBNielsen Media Research, the television audience measurement business.

Los Angeles - News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) MySpace online social network on Wednesday touted the results of a survey it commissioned from The Nielsen Company, which found its site is the most frequently cited Web source of information for movies among consumers 15-24 years old.