Recently, I had the privilege of attending a meeting with a client who buys considerable television advertising inventory year in and year out. The topic for the session was "New Television Opportunities," which they defined as: Addressable Advertising; Ad Supported On Demand Content; and Hybrid Direct Response. In the morning conference, we were treated to overviews of each technology. Then the head of the organization turned to me and asked dryly, "Are we expected to evaluate all of these opportunities based on television ratings alone?" To which another consultant quipped, "I don't think anyone expects you to evaluate any of …

I was having breakfast with a dear friend and colleague this week when the topic turned to television (go figure!). Now understand the characters in this play -- myself (you all know) and this gentleman, who is in the 55-65 demo, white, extremely educated, and comes from a television background. His words to me were as follows: "The only scripted show I watch is 'Lost ... there is nothing on television for me." An interesting statement that was then followed by some smart remark about him entering the Andy Rooney phase of life.

Reading the advance press on this week's big-screen debut of "Sex and the City," it's clear that it's not exactly expected to send what was a spectacularly successful TV franchise off into the sunset in a blaze of glory.

At the last Chicago Carat Exchange (April 11) one panel discussion focused on set-top-box and viewing data. Participants included (alphabetically by company): EVAD Consulting's Frank Foster, Nielsen's Jeff Boehme, Rentrak's Cathy Hetzel, and TNS Media's Bud Breheney. As a follow-up to the roundtable, we fielded five questions to the participants. The following are their uncensored responses in the order of receivership....

It is human nature to look at the past through rose-colored glasses. Nostalgia is the basis of all good memories and makes one feel good. I say this in reference to two pieces that I came across this week: Jack Meyers Network's "Upfront Week 2008: Not So Bad After All" and John Dvorak's "Losing Perspective."

At the March 26, 2008 Carat Exchange, a quarterly gathering of media executives in New York and Chicago from the dominant food groups i.e., advertising, content, technology, research, and distribution, I mentioned fielding an online media usage questionnaire in partnership with OTX -- a leading global consumer research and consulting firm -- and industry trade publication MediaPost that would compare the media habits and attitudes of media professionals to those of the general public.

Despite industry expectations that Nielsen's C3 ratings would receive MRC accreditation in time for the 2007 upfront (then further assurances the process would be completed in January of 2008) it is now that time of year again -- and Nielsen's system has yet to gain MRC approval. In the past, the MRC has blamed Nielsen for the delays -- and while many will point fingers, I suggest the reasons behind the hindrance are irrelevant .The current system has failed to fulfill its mission. The industry has proven beyond doubt that it cannot force Nielsen to accredit a service before it …

Hmmm, somehow I cannot see Brian Roberts accepting my invitation to Plaxo, even though the Comcast Corp. CEO is plunking down upwards of $175 million to acquire the social networking platform. That's part of the beauty of social networks - people have the right to ignore invitations.

So, to cap the series of articles stemming from the event that I attended a couple of weeks back about the favorite topic d'jour: user-generated content, I would like to draw your attention to the definition of irony. After the panel, I was quoted several times in the pro-sumer and pro-fessional press. I would like to thank those who quoted me correctly and didn't use my quotes out of context. And then I would like to point out to those who did quote me completely out of context that yes, the panel was in fact taped and the entire session …

There has been much written (and rightly so) about the huge and inevitable impact that set-top-box data will have on the measurement of TV viewing. But for the purposes of this column, I'm more interested in some of the other promises of digital TV that leverage the return path to offer different and more personalized viewing experiences.