Will real-time bidding ever come to TV?

Almost 40 years after the summer of "Jaws," shark-mania is once again permeating popular culture thanks to the low-budget, high-impact Syfy movie "Sharknado." Fueled by a record-breaking (for Syfy) number of tweets, if not by ratings, this may be the first entertainment phenomenon that owes more to the excitement it generated on Twitter than to actual viewer interest on television.

The pace of consolidation in local TV is accelerating. In the last two months alone, three major deals have been announced: Media General is acquiring New Young Broadcasting, Gannett is acquiring Belo, and Tribune is acquiring Local TV LLC. Of course, Sinclair and Nexstar have had an appetite for consolidation for the last two years and have been pretty active in their strategic pursuits. What's behind the push for this consolidation?