Hand it to the folks at Paramount Pictures for their marketing effort for "Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues." You can never have enough pre-release movie marketing activity in this ever-fractionalizing media world. Ron Burgundy, "Anchorman 2"'s main character played by Will Ferrell, is seemingly everywhere -- on TBS' "Conan," ESPN's "SportsCenter," "The Dan Patrick Show" on DirecTV's Audience Network, and even a turn reading the news at a Bismarck, ND TV station.

TV programming is costing more for consumers, advertisers, networks and stations worldwide. The latter are getting compensated for their higher license fees with better revenue and earnings results. This justifies big media's efforts to funnel even more dollars into TV production, including increased sports programming costs. And who pays for those costs? Take a guess. But don't jump on the pile just yet. The consumers' need for entertainment shows no bounds -- even considering the tiny, but highly touted, trend of cord-cutting and cord-shaving.

A U.S. appeals court on Monday ruled that a federal ban on public TV and radio stations accepting political advertising does not violate the First Amendment.

Forget about what marketers what to know about you on a purely analytical basis - such as what type of pets you have in your home, or your car or food preferences. Future messaging may look to figure out how you feel on a particular day. Maybe you don't feel like some generic shopping? What if you are blue? Perhaps an ad or message from a therapist would be in order. Perhaps a smiling face, or a piece of chocolate.

A good media plan can require hard work and sweat. But should everyone -- bosses, clients, vendors and consumers -- know what goes into that? You could have proof. You could keep your sweat for evidence. And then think of your favorite entertainers.

Despite trends to the contrary, some media futurists believe media hardware and software might be free to consumers down the road -- as long as key marketers can hit them with a few messages from time to time. Make that a lot of the time.

Katie Couric is leaving ABC News in what is seemingly a groundbreaking decision to become Yahoo's "global anchor." Sounds like a big job. But will that be enough to make Yahoo more top of mind? I give you four words: Dan Rather and HDNet.

Tell local TV viewers that your content is more valuable than they knew, and they'll believe they have to pay for it. WCPO, an E.W. Scripps station in Cincinnati, making an unprecedented move to start a digital website paywall, is kind of rebelling against what I had assumed was the universal stance of TV stations: to provide website content for free. Don't worry, local Cincinnati viewers-- you'll still be able to get crucial news, weather and information free. But "premium" content? That's another story.

You take the good with the bad when it comes to branded entertainment and sponsorship. When the bad comes, it doesn't hurt if there's comedy involved. Will Ferrell, playing his Ron Burgundy character on TBS' "Conan," was asked about a 59% rise in sales for the Dodge Durango SUV. "Pretty incredible, pretty amazing," he said. "What's so amazing about it is it's a terrible car." Big studio laughter followed. Then he said, "I'm kidding, they are great." But he next shook his head "no" for the camera. More laughter all around.

Marketers now spend so much effort looking for any kernel of somewhat personal information --on the slight off chance of grabbing some possible return on consumer investment. That makes digital media run better. But it doesn't work for everyone. For example, what happens when unsold inventory from a popular music site goes to a mobile ad network, which then grabs calendar information from users?