Comcast Corp. is one company where media-buying aggression always seemed to make sense: a slower-growing, traditional cable operator, hoping to find other businesses to fuel future growth. A few years ago -- before the recession -- a deal to purchase NBC Universal would seem to have made sense, matching programming/content with Comcast's growing array of video distribution operations.

We are not in a new fall TV season; we are in the new time-shifting season. Time-shifting is now some 40% higher in prime time for the first week of the new season. This is good news for TV networks needing to get their shows sampled. As a result, broadcast erosion in the first days of the new season isn't as high as in the past.