The broadcast networks will become less viable for their general branded scheduled platforms and more for their TV studios. That new dynamic could ultimately give the broadcast network companies an edge over their cable rivals.

All the fuss over Microsoft's $8.5 billion acquisition of Skype from analysts and media misses some big issues which make the deal's outcome anything but a sure bet. The most pointed question: How long it will take the software giant to destroy Skype's unique value proposition?

Without new rules of play, media and marketing companies can get hurt in these transforming times. The four Cs -- consumers, content, curation and convergence -- provide an orderly way to examine the chaotic reinvention of all things media.

Even as interactive technology has made media and communications more useful, it is overshadowed by the great data skullduggery. That some of the most powerful, wealthy companies on Earth can't devise more efficient and secure data in the digital age is not only a crime, but a missed opportunity.

Advertising-dependent television may have dodged one bullet this year only to be crippled later by an intensifying barrage of economic and tech threats, that will alter its fragile status quo. Online and mobile will siphon off ad revs from trad media.

The browbeating Google is getting from shortsighted investors for increased capital investment in social media (where it's behind), online advertising (which it commands) and cloud servers (to meet exploding demand) is a bad sign.

The latest ad spending numbers point to new vulnerability in TV station's life's blood. Broadcasters can't inch their way into the digital age -- they must push a strong social media agenda.

The growing rift between content providers and mainstream distributors from Time Warner Cable to Amazon and Apple, which are protecting their turf by connecting with mobile consumers in new ways, is beginning to resemble an existential play.

To get the digital dollars, media companies must learn to view connectivity through consumers' eyes: It's all about personal relevance.

Comcast's challenge to unlock the value of non-core or declining assets has been thrown into high gear by The Blackstone Group's move to sell its 50% interest in Universal Orlando or flip full ownership of the theme parks and resort to a third party.