Taking the thread in a slightly different direction ... Neilsen intends Sweeps months to become a thing of the past, and soon. They've introduced constant monitoring in some of the larger markets, using a device called the Portable People Meter. (Yes, it's a one-eyed, one-horned, flyin' portable people meter!)
Anyway ... before longer, it's likely we'll no longer have to watch local news programs compete to see who can come up with the sleaziest sweeps features. (No more "Look what we found on these motel bedspreads!")
Either that ... or someone will decide that we will need those kinds of stories all the time, instead of only sludging through them in November, February, and May!