NBC 5 / KXAS-TV Begins 4th Year of News Dominance at 10pm; North Texans Turn to NBC 5 for Revealing Identity Theft Series

NBC 5 / KXAS-TV Begins 4th Year of News Dominance at 10pm; North Texans Turn to NBC 5 for Revealing Identity Theft Series

DALLAS and FORT WORTH, Texas, March 3 /PRNewswire/ -- KXAS / NBC 5 News @ 10pm remains the most watched newscast in North Texas continuing a streak that began three years ago in February 2002. NBC 5 is one of only two Dallas-Fort Worth 10pm newscasts to increase audience since the November 2004 ratings period.

Known for bold, insightful and relevant reporting, NBC 5 captured Dallas- Fort Worth's attention with groundbreaking stories on identity theft. Investigative reporter, Grant Stinchfield, broke a series of stories in his series "Identity Crisis" during February. "Identity Crisis" stories included:

The Card Test -- A female producer used NBC 5's Sports Anchor Newy Scrugg's personal credit card to charge purchases at several North Texas businesses. The petite blond, looking nothing like Newy, was never questioned by store personnel or asked to prove identification. NBC 5 confronted the businesses with the results and several establishments launched credit card fraud education programs for their clerks.

Computers Hold Your Secrets -- After purchasing several used computers, Stinchfield quickly found all the information needed to steal the previous owner's identity. NBC 5 explained to viewers how to make sure their computers were wiped clean of personal information.

Tracking Thieves -- NBC 5 tracked how identity thieves took one credit card and opened at least thirty fake accounts. The crime damaged a young woman's credit requiring a lot of time and effort to set the record straight. Stinchfield questioned credit report agency officials to ask why they cannot flag fraudulent open accounts more quickly.

Stealing a U.S. Senator's Identity -- Stinchfield easily located the social security number of Texas' U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. After using a common software program to print checks with the Senator's name and address, he showed Hutchison how easy it is to steal someone's identification.

Some Texas legislators credit NBC 5 with bringing these identity theft issues to light and have drafted bills designed to crackdown on protecting personal information.

The Ellen DeGeneres Show on NBC 5 increased its audience 25% versus recent ratings periods and is quickly becoming a favorite among 3pm viewers. The show is nominated for eleven Daytime Emmy awards.

Extra, North Texas' #1 entertainment news magazine show, demonstrated its strongest ratings of the previous twelve months in February. Hosted by Dayna Devon and Mark McGrath, Extra airs at 6:30pm on NBC 5.

The Tonight Show featuring Jay Leno and Late Night With Conan O'Brien continue to be the preferred choice for late night viewing among North Texans besting the nearest talk show competition by 44% and 42%, respectively.

nbc5i.com is a popular source for local news, weather, sports, traffic and more on the internet. The site boasts nearly 800,000 unique users in February 2005, a 55% increase from February 2004.

The February sweeps period began February 3 and ended March 2, 2005. Nielsen Media Research produces the television ratings data presented. One household rating point represents approximately 22,560 area homes.

February 2005 Household Rating / Share

Newscast (M-F) KXAS / N WFAA / A KTVT / C KDFW / F

10 - 10:35 pm 11.0 /17 8.8/14 8.8/14 5.5/ 9 5 - 7 am 3.6 /16 2.7 /12 1.1/ 5 3.8 /17 10 - 11 am 3.2 /10 --- / --- --- / --- --- / --- 4 - 5 pm 3.1 / 7 --- / --- 3.6 / 8 --- / --- 5 - 5:30 pm 4.6 / 9 7.2 /15 3.6 / 7 4.9 /10 6 - 6:30 pm 5.5 /10 8.3 /15 3.5 / 6 5.0 / 9

Source: Nielsen Media Research Program Average Data Dallas/Fort Worth Designated Market Area 2/3/05 - 3/2/05

NBC 5 / KXAS-TV / nbc5i.com and Telemundo 39 / KXTX-TV are the NBC owned and operated media centers serving the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex.

Source: NBC 5 / KXAS-TV

CONTACT: Brian Hocker of NBC 5, +1-817-654-6380

Web site: http://www.nbc5i.com/

------- Profile: Ent