Mike Saxon, SVP Advanced Media at Symphony Advanced Media (SymphonyAM), is an advertising effectiveness maven. His background includes stints at Nielsen//NetRatings, AIG and Harris Interactive. In his present position, he is active in redesigning cross-media measurement through the use of passive data gathering. In my interview with him, Mike talks about digital internet measurement, the importance of ACR (automatic content recognition), the challenge of out-of-home measurement, and SymphonyAM initiatives in cross-platform measurement. (In fact, The Coalition for Innovation in Media Measurement is currently working with SymphonyAM to test the effectiveness of cross-media campaigns for three national advertisers.)

Last week I wrote about the lessons television has been teaching us during the early weeks of 2013. I had a largely positive response to the piece, although I did hear from a few people that some of the lessons I singled out were too obvious, as in "nothing new." Their comments brought to mind something I once heard Maya Angelou reveal on "The Oprah Winfrey Show": "Lessons repeat until they are learned."

Sunday's season finale of "Downton Abbey" concludes one of the most vexing episodes in spoiler alert history. Because the series ended in the U.K. last Christmas and was released on DVD before the American broadcast, any attempt to read about the Crawleys, follow them on social media or even chat about them with friends became a minefield of unexploded plot twists.

The first few weeks of 2013 are proving to be highly educational as far as broadcast television is concerned. One can't help but learn something about the medium with each passing day. For example, NBC's consistent ratings decline makes it increasingly clear that people don't watch television networks. Rather, they watch television shows!

Liz Janneman not only speaks fluent Dutch, she is also a very effective senior sales executive for Ovation TV. She started in the business at a rep firm before moving into the agency side of the business in local and then in national cable buying. She talks about buying networks according to their "brand essence" before there was a Nielsen measurement for cable.

Is this latest version of Fox's "American Idol" much more engaging than I expected it to be? Or does it just look better than it is when compared to the network's other monster talent show, the egregiously overproduced "The X Factor"? These are the questions that have been on my mind while watching "Idol" the last couple of weeks.

Mike Greco, executive vice president of strategic insights at A&E Networks, started his career at Nielsen, which gave him a firm basis in research. The business of television has certainly changed since Greco's Nielsen days.

ast week's series finale of "30 Rock" generated an outpouring of critical commentary and praise. It's hard to believe that the departure of any other series this year -- including "The Office" -- will be saluted with as many huzzahs.

It's been rather a sleepy midseason, hasn't it? Remember when the annual winter returns of "24" and "Lost" -- not to mention "The Sopranos" -- seemed to bring all of television excitingly alive? But the only series (scripted or otherwise) that seems to be generating the usual outsize buzz at the moment is PBS' reliable "Downton Abbey."