In football it's called a mis-direction play. In TV, it's called not showing all your programming cards. For years Jeff Zucker, president and CEO of NBC Universal -- and other senior TV executives, for that matter -- have talked about non-profitable time periods: the 8 p.m. hours on weekday television, as well as any show on Friday or Saturday night. But what didn't seem to be in the mix was the 10 p.m. Monday through Friday time slots.

After years as an entertainment game site, Hollywood Stock Exchange, otherwise known as HSX, wants to become a real marketplace where you can buy and sell -- just like on the commodity exchanges -- future contracts on actual movies, directors and actors.

In his latest brush with the law, O.J. Simpson got some headlines -- but not the same type of ratings he pulled almost 14 years ago.

It's that nervous time of year for networks -- time for unexpected gift-giving. Big ratings brought some surprise presents for CBS' "Victoria's Secret Fashion Show," and -- covering the other end of the spectrum -- for CBS' "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" as well.

The rise of citizen journalism showed its true colors in the wake of the attacks in Mumbai. But was it every shade we wanted?

How are David Verklin and Canoe Ventures doing? Call him in three years. That's what the chief executive of the cable addressable advertising venture says -- especially about the technology marketers really want, the one where they can send different commercial messages to different households watching the same program.

Don't make fun of Brooke Shields -- she has a point, even if some of the TV business press thinks otherwise. Shields says that "Lipstick Jungle" -- the struggling NBC show she stars in -- has strong DVR viewership after seven days from its initial broadcast. Shields notes DVR viewing can lift ratings by 29%. That's pretty good. (To be fair, many other shows get similar DVR viewership numbers.) Still, a big-time newspaper says her recent attempt to defend the show using the "live plus seven day" terminology is "arcane."

Now that TV stations are shoe-horning their business model more like cable networks, one wonders when the complaining will stop. Right now, TV stations are moaning about the loss of big marquee sports like the Bowl Championship Series. But they say there's hope -- all because of retransmission fees, similar to the subscription fees paid to cable networks.