Some optimistic ad forecasts have been made in a vacuum, without taking into account the headwinds of real 17.5% unemployment, retailers' jagged recovery, media's struggling digital paradigm and the overall free-fall in ad spending. Advertising's gradual upturn will not be business as usual.

Comcast's bid to co-own NBC Universal is a grab for digital content dominance that will trigger influential paid models, force a revamp of broadcast television and spawn a new wave of media deals.

Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger is likely to couple the appointment of a new studio chief with new initiatives and changes aimed at reinventing the film business for the digital age.

General Electric's pending decision to retain total or partial ownership of NBC Universal could hinge on radical changes to its weakest financial links, including its ad-dependent NBC broadcast network and TV stations.

With the 2010 budgeting process begun, analysts have to decide how much ad spending will eventually come back, and where those dollars will land.

When the executives at Razorfish, an ad agency "born digital," peer into their crystal balls, they see thing like universal screens, ubiquitous devices and consumer e-dentities becoming realities within the next five years.

YouTube's latest effort to generate and share advertising revenues from more grassroots videos hinges on Madison Avenue's willingness to take a giant leap of faith.

Google's wealth creation is unprecedented in the five years since it went public. Although its $150 billion market cap is nearly half what it once was, it has generated massive value for other companies. But Google is vulnerable just because it is thinly spread in a rapidly changing marketplace where rivals are eating away at the edges and fighting for turf.

Fear of diminishing returns from digital distribution is fueling Hollywood studio ire with Redbox's $1 daily rental of new movie releases in what is shaping up to be a major test of new media economics.

While plodding through the recessionary sludge of the past year, consumers have unwittingly crossed the digital divide, leaving many media companies scrambling to keep pace with them.