A couple of weeks ago, a friend from high school contacted me through Facebook. He suggested I might want to try a new application -- something like "See Who Is Looking at Your Facebook Page." I clicked on -- only to realize a nanosecond later my mistake. Every one of my Facebook friends got a message from me wondering if they wanted to try a new application, finding out who might be looking at their pages. That one click clicked-off my friends the wrong way.

NBC affiliates want the Federal Communications Commission to intercede if Comcast Corp. doesn't let them keep the programming they need. Such a demanding lot! Someone needs a bit of cold water thrown on them -- that, or another change of late-night hosts.

Films are more dependent than ever on TV as a messaging/commercial platform. Movie studios will continue to pay their share and then some during upfront periods, with even bigger premiums -- all to grab key commercial positions in specific shows on specific dates, to insure their one-chance-to-succeed opening weekends.

The NFL has a great money deal with the networks -- apparently, even if no games are aired. In the event of a possible NFL lockout by owners, the NFL players' union complains, the league still gets a collective $4 billion dollars from all its television partners.

Comcast Cable and Time Warner Cable are two cable industry leaders -- but they only represent around 20 million U.S. homes each. According to Nielsen Media Research, there are around 115 million U.S. television homes. No one has a real monopoly. What people are really concerned about is not media consolidation, but media clout. We talk about expanding digital media and entertainment options all the time --- but real clout lies in the hands of a few.

Cursing on cable? Incredible! Apologizing for it? Why? MTV recorded some 100 objectionable/profane words that kept its censors busy during the 2010 MTV Movie Awards on Sunday. Most were muted out.

What's the real upfront deal? Is one network getting a 7.5% price increase over a year ago -- or is it 7%? Does it really matter?

Cable networks are always thinking about summer programming --but increasingly, so is everyone else. Anticipation builds as cable networks hope for the next big hit, while the broadcast networks, for the most part, still sit on the sidelines with reality shows or scripted series for which they have lower expectations.

Good news or bad news? When do you stop and start your advertising to contradict "news" messages? For Toyota Motor Sales, the answer -- right now, anyway -- is to stop advertising, first at Southeastern TV stations and now at some Northeastern TV stations.

We have all heard the projections -- that this upfront feels like those bold upfront markets of yesteryear. But that isn't exactly right. If anything, this TV upfront feels a bit conservative. One media executive says, "If this was five years ago, networks wouldn't be asking and getting 9% price increases, they'd be getting 15% or 20% price increases."