It's the same old song - cable is taking money from broadcast networks. But the real picture isn't always realized, nor does it seem advertisers get the right exposure. Discovery Networks has predicted another $500 million will shift from broadcast to cable during this year's upfront, while other pro-cable prognosticators say that number could be as high as $1 billion.

ABC wants its football like it wants its hamburgers from Burger King - just the way it likes it. That means switching ABC's high-profile "Monday Night Football" to its Walt Disney Co. sister cable network, ESPN, and moving ESPN's "Sunday Night Football" package to ABC.

In typical governmental, hyperbolic fashion, the Corporation of Public Broadcasting (CPB), which acts as an ombudsman of sort for public broadcasting, has hired - who else - two ombudsmen. Former NBC newsman Ken Bode and former Reader's Digest editor William Schulz are coming on board to promote balance and accountability, according to CPB executives.

Al Gore's new cable channel wants to take on MTV -- as well as Fox News, CNN, and possibly some advertising agencies. The new network called Current, which will focus on current events for young adults 18 to 49, looks to take on the MTV audience - in a more serious way. MTV has done its best with its Rock the Vote and other community efforts - but these public service pushes have always been a subset of MTV's general interest entertainment programming and music videos.

Seeking friendly and financially strong companies, the cable industry's National Cable & Telecommunications Association's conference in San Francisco, is looking for media industry allies. With bankruptcy and financial issues surrounding some companies - Adelphia Communications and Cablevision Systems -- Steve Burke, COO of Comcast Corp. called on other industries, from wireless phone carriers to Internet content providers, to help bring some joy to the rest of the cable business.

It seems appropriate Ted Koppel, host of ABC's "Nightline," made an announcement that he would be leaving the network the day before April Fool's Day. This is serious business after all. And that may just be the point - or a fine metaphor somewhere. The jokes, after all, are on the other networks with Letterman and Leno.

So here's the big yawn of the week: the Parent's Television Council (PTC) is going after MTV advertisers. Why? Because of what it calls MTV's programming sleaze. Sleaze? Please. This is the same organization who had to apologize for wrongly linking World Wrestling Entertainment's programming to the deaths of four children back in July 2002, as well as claiming certain advertisers had stopped advertising on its show "SmackDown!"

Family feuds sometimes don't seem like all they're cracked up to be. In the media world, a dramatic TV show cascades into a final torrent of emotion - anger, sadness, or euphoria. But real life squabbles wind up being downright pedestrian.

Brian Roberts, chairman/CEO of Comcast, not only knows a thing or two about cable business issues, but also how to soften the tough turf known as journalism. For the last two weeks, he has been the subject of a two-part interview by Stephen Unger, an executive recruiter, who is penning a column for Daily Variety, called "Working The Town."

For any major media company, it comes down to micro-managing versus "hands-off." Hands-off always seems to get a favorite airing among the press, while disgruntled employees cringe under the micro-management approach. Under Bob Iger's new regime at Walt Disney Co. the hands are with "hands-off."