Looking to capitalize on a new opportunity in multi-platform sales, AMC is using a single rating that combines TV and online viewing as a currency. The initiative is propelled by a fledgling Nielsen data stream that produces an aggregated C3 rating for viewing on the two screens. AMC is using the unified C3 rating for three originals airing now: "The Walking Dead," "Talking Dead" and "Hell on Wheels."

Once again, Wall Street analyst David Bank has shown prescience with his endorsement of Time Warner's potential acquisition of the Endemol TV studio. While a deal may carry a huge price tag, it's a tremendous asset, standing at the locus of two crosscurrents: the extraordinary importance of content and, within that, networks' increasing fascination with reality TV.

The job market may be tough and layoffs have many jittery, but when your last name is Dolan and you work for Cablevision, maybe you feel a little more confident. So much so, that while holding down a top corporate role, you feel emboldened enough to sue your employer for $11 million. In April, Tom Dolan -- son of the founder and brother of the CEO -- filed a lawsuit against the company looking to claim the money he believes he is owed dating back to his one-year run as CEO of the Rainbow Media unit from 2004-05. Dolan, now …

With the costs of producing HD ads declining and seemingly every spot on the Big Four networks in high definition, the local market continues to lag. Are marketers losing an opportunity? Maybe. Are they entirely to blame? No.

In this month's edition of Leaders & Bleeders, Alaska is a favored setting for reality TV. Former Governor Sarah Palin's show brought strong ratings, even though it wasn't given a second season. But now the last frontier's gold miners and Coast Guard are seeding the genre. Meanwhile, the highly rated broadcast of the Kardashian wedding on E! is proving to be an imbroglio. Followed by a divorce 72 days later, it has people questioning whether E! was in on a stunt. What's real and what isn't will always be a Kardashian question, but if matters look too staged that could …

The Pax Viacoma is over. Viacom and Time Warner Cable have reignited their court battle after failing to reach a settlement in their dispute over in-home iPad streaming. An apparent driving force is a deal Viacom reached with another cable operator, Cablevision, on effectively the same matter. Time Warner Cable (TWC), in turn, feels it is entitled to similar terms. In June, Viacom and TWC agreed to put their iPad battle in New York federal court on hold, while they hoped to work out a solution. In a recent government filing, however, TWC said it ended the temporary truce in …

If NBCUniversal authored a low point in the local-TV business three and a half years ago, it offered close to a 180 Monday with word about a significant investment in its station group. In the process, it delivered another example of broadcasters' seemingly sudden belief that hard news programming makes for good business.

Until about mid-summer, Netflix had to be a shoo-in for 2011 marketer of the year. But its elimination from competition came about as swiftly as Herman Cain's rise into contention. Unlike Barack Obama, who took similar 2008 awards from MediaPost and Ad Age, Cain may not win the White House - or even the Iowa primary in January -- but he's got to have editors thinking as they evaluate prospects over the next weeks. Cain has proven himself nothing less than a master at crafting a public image and using the media to build extraordinary support, somehow climbing into the …

When Samsung Mobile and its agency Starcom approached ESPN about co-developing an original digital series, there was some natural subject matter: the Chelsea football club. Samsung's partnership with the hugely popular English team includes placing its brand on the jerseys. Instead, Samsung and ESPN opted to co-develop lower-profile content, which might offer more potential to demonstrate the benefits of a new smartphone or tablet. And, by featuring sports like parkour and team handball, there was the opportunity to engender a sense of exploration. Enter the new Project Teamwork, an international Samsung branded entertainment campaign with 12 digital shorts that focus …

The last time Professor Ari Kohen presented a paper at a distinguished academic gathering he offered up his take on heroism in "The Odyssey." On Friday, he'll be sticking with ancient Greece, but adding in modern Italian American. A political theorist at the University of Nebraska, he's one of the presenters scheduled for the first (annual?) University of Chicago Conference on Jersey Shore Studies this Friday. He's found a connection between Plato and the hit show, which promises to draw a crowd. So does the keynote address: "Guidosexuality" by a University of Michigan faculty member.