As the industry focuses on commercial ratings, a series of research initiatives have been done that shed light on viewer behaviors in and out of pods. Some of the preliminary conclusions are eye-opening and challenge commonly held industry beliefs.

The game changed on Oct. 16. And Madison Ave -- you've lost. Before it was even particularly clear there was an arms race going on, the consumer won. Democratized Media has surpassed Mass Media.

Last week I attended a meeting with Shari Anne Brill (Carat senior vice president, research) hosted by Anne Drake, (vice president, TNS Media Research). The purpose of the gathering was to discuss TNS's InfoSys media applications. But for those of us in the industry who know Shari Anne, the topic quickly channeled to her most pressing issue: the impending writers' strike.

Sorry I have to make this very short, but I will try and at least make it sweet. And while I won't directly comment on the strike that went into effect at 12:01 a.m. today, Nov. 5, I will say this: This move does not translate into open season on the Internet.

Hulu launches. Radiohead sales soar. Google stock passes $700 as the foundations of the economy slowly crumble. The Philo Farnsworth (inventor of television) story is memorialized in a must-see Broadway play, "The Farnsworth Invention," written by Aaron Sorkin. It's just the tip of the news iceberg for the media industry, but it's what stands out to me. It's been a good week.

Typically, we discuss the future of television on these pages. Today, I'd like to recognize an important part of its past. Or, I should say, a part of its passing. The death notice came quietly the other day, and it took the form of a Nielsen communiqué that nonchalantly informed clients it would cease collecting and reporting data on television remote controls at the end of this year.

There are a number of undercurrents presently being felt within what we broadly define as the TV business, but which now includes so much more than The Box In The Corner. Now that "TV" is increasingly taken to encompass video across any platform that can deliver it and in any location audiences can be reached, naturally the industry has to redefine terms, processes and practices accordingly, to rise to challenges and take advantage of new opportunities. One of these -- and certainly one of the most volatile right now -- relates to advertising formats.

A few weeks ago there was an article written in The New York Times about a letter that Verizon Wireless has sent to its customers. Essentially, it informed them that it would begin sharing information from their calling records with its "affiliates, agents and parent companies." The caveat: if customers didn't want to have their information shared they had 30 days to "opt out." I must admit that as a Verizon customer in good standing - two landlines and two wireless delineated across three separate monthly statements - I don't remember seeing the note. Maybe that is the point.

Or so it would seem. Last May, I penned an article entitled, "If I Were Steve Jobs For A Day." Check out number eight on the list -- "Launch original online programming channels in iTunes"-- and then try and tell me I wasn't right. Why? Because today marks the day that iTunes launches its first EXCLUSIVE film, "Purple Violets." Written by one of my favorite actor-writer-producers Ed Burns, this is a first for Apple and Burns alike.

No, I am not talking about the environment -- I am talking about content. Forgive the diatribe that I am about to embark on -- but I feel that these words lend themselves well not only to the what is happening to our environment but serve as a calling card to how we should be approaching the development of content for a multiplatform world.