My 2-year-old TiVo's hard drive died an unexpected death a while back, and after several dreadful weeks without any time-delay TV to watch, we broke down and purchased a new box. Although the new model is not the super-fancy TiVo 3, I am discovering that there are many more TiVo features available than I had previously realized. I was seriously underutilizing the functionality of my TiVo!

During the 2002/03 broadcast season I was fortunate to have consulting agreements with cable systems operators and established linear cable networks to help launch their video-on-demand platforms -- ad-supported as well as advertiser-provided content. I would often arrive with the ad-supported cable network's affiliate guy in tow. We'd wait patiently for the designated "new interactive media" specialist, and affiliates' guys and gals from the opposing camp, the systems operator. When they arrived everyone would be cordial, hands shook, and then immediately, the fireworks began. Accusations of robbery and skullduggery flew across the room: promises un-kept, deadlines un-met, and interactive program …

Recently, my cable operator, Comcast, has been contacting its triple-play subscribers in my community to inform them that they have until Oct. 1st to switch to their digital phone service or choose another telephony provider. A friend of mine, Stephanie Bellofatto, called up to speak with a sales representative to find out about the new offering, which she understood included all of the movie channels and sports packages along with a DVR. The conversation went something like this....

"What do you think of engagement metrics?" asked the advertiser. Ah ... engagement. No one can argue against engagement metrics, can they? In theory, engagement is a great concept. Research vendors often attempt to answer a question like, "Are advertisers creating messages that viewers easily recall?" But in practice, questions like this are often answered using questionable research practices.

I am someone who always seeks to learn from other places; looking for ways to apply scientific constructs to the arts, packaging and distribution efficiencies from manufacturing to video, non-profit marketing tactics to for-profit businesses. So when I first met and spoke with Lisa Holton a few weeks ago, I found it so refreshing to see someone come out of what is perceived as a dying business with a multiplatform, multipronged approach to developing content.

If you listen carefully, you can hear the not-so-distant sound of hysterical agenda-driven pressure groups marshalling the Federal Communications Commission about the perceived dangers of what they are calling "embedded advertising" (read product placement), particularly that which reaches children. More ominously, this is accompanied by the usual signs of the FCC falling into line with the sociopolitical concerns of these groups. Next will come the usual suspects -- in the form of politicians -- seeing an election-year bandwagon to climb aboard, and then all reason can be dispatched to the four winds.

The Federal Communications Commission has determined that telco Verizon had unlawfully utilized private customer information to persuade its phone customers, who were planning to switch their allegiance to a cable operator -- possibly for the quadruple bypass (video, broadband, land line and wireless) -- not to switch to said cable company, Comcast, in this case, through the promise of gifts in the form of discounted services.

While Microsoft's interest in growing its share of the Internet advertising revenue is well known, its foray into television was a surprise to many. Buying Navic shouldn't have been a surprise. Perhaps best-known for their set-top box monitoring and diagnostics service, Navic has spent a great deal of time and energy attempting to navigate the advanced television advertising landscape.

A new multimedia company has launched a Web site that targets ethnic Americans. But where I have a hard time seeing value is in creating audiences that are narrowly defined, but not by an indiscrete variable.

If the media industries have trouble keeping up with developments and in determining new solutions, then even the best-resourced and most pro-active universities with the most gifted faculty will find it even harder. We need a more integrated relationship between industry and academia to position graduates to help solve the challenges of emerging media.