For investors, Comcast's fall from grace represents the unwinding of the company's and the cable industry's bundled prosperity. Comcast warned Wall Street several years ago that video would become a less prominent component of its packaged services as non-cable competition intensified and consumers more embraced data and voice. But even the nation's leading cable operator could not anticipate recent swift shifts in consumer preference and deteriorating economics.

In 2008, mobility and social networking will be powerfully intertwined growth catalysts. The high level of prevailing "stickiness" is a marketers' dream, but it also could become new media's Achilles' heel. The tipping point is at hand.

Looking past the gee-whiz ad forecasts should be mandatory for anyone playing in the media marketplace. In trying times, there will be a place in the ad world for both the Internet and interactive platforms, as well as more traditional one-way media. The forecasts, and widespread reaction to them, however, can be unrealistic and extreme.

The winding evolution of video games--the oldest of today's popular interactive platforms--is anything but child's play. That explains why Walt Disney Co. is ramping up to claim its share of an anticipated $47 billion global video game market in 2008.