Americans born between 1946 and 1964 are accustomed to being catered to, but that's not the case with much of television today. Now there's some new evidence that they're finding this mighty irritating. A study conducted by Harris Interactive suggests that the television industry's obsession with youth is backfiring.

Nearly two-thirds of Americans say they believe that most TV programming and advertising is targeted toward people younger than 40, the survey said. More than 80 percent of adults older than 40 say they have a hard time finding TV shows that reflect their lives.

A significant number of baby boomers — 37 percent — say they aren't happy with what's on television, according to the study.

"The amount of people dissatisfied with television overall was a pretty big eye-opening thing for us," said Larry Jones, president of the TV Land cable network, which commissioned the study.

The theory among advertisers is that it's important to reach young people as their preferences are forming — get them hooked on a certain toothpaste or soda early, and they'll be hooked for life. Advertisers will pay a premium for young viewers: $335 for every thousand people in the 18-to-24 age range that a network delivers, for example. Viewers aged 55 to 64 are worth only $119 for every thousand, according to Nielsen Media Research.

That's why ABC and NBC conduct all of their business with advertisers in the 18-to-49 demo. From a financial standpoint, if you're 50 or older, you mean nothing to those networks' executives. For Fox, the CW, MTV, BET and countless other networks, even 40 is too old.

Randy Berkowitz, vice president of research for Combe Inc., believes that "people are just not in tune with TV because they can't relate to it anymore."

To a surprising extent, advertising is also alienating. The Harris Interactive study found that half of baby boomers say they tune out commercials that are clearly aimed at young people. An additional one-third said they'd go out of their way not to buy such a product.

"I'm not saying that every show, every network should reshape, but that's an awfully high level of dissatisfaction among the largest generation group of all time," said Ken Dychtwald, a psychologist who worked with Harris Interactive on the study. (Harris conducted an online survey of 4,220 adults between April 28 and May 15 this year, with a sampling error of plus or minus 1.5 percent.)

Some advertisers have responded to the aging population. Financial services firms, for example, see many potential customers advancing toward retirement. Two decades ago drug companies didn't advertise on TV; now you could fill a medicine cabinet with all the products hawked on the evening news.

But these were cases where the companies making these products saw the opportunity, not necessarily the TV industry, Berkowitz said.

TV Land's Jones, 46, is using the survey in his business. The results have convinced him that his network of mostly classic TV shows should be boomer-centric, he said.

One statistic he's sure to cite: The survey found 51 percent of the postwar generation describe themselves as "open to new ideas." Meanwhile, only 12 percent of young adults think the older folks feel that way.

Why does that matter? Jones said the average media buyer or planner is younger than 30. Many are undoubtedly hired for their know-how in appealing to a specific generation, and it isn't the baby boomers.