NBC -- the fourth-place network Jeff Zucker leaves behind -- isn't worth much, we are now told. It is actually a $600 million valuation drag on the NBC Universal company as a whole, according to one analyst. That shouldn't come as much of a surprise. Zucker, departing president and chief executive officer, has been touting NBC U's cable networks as the big revenue and profit drivers for a number of years, with less emphasis on the big network.

The saying goes: Dying is easy; comedy is hard. New age marketers might flip this around: TV is easy; the Internet is hard. (So I guess this means comedy equals the Internet -- and death equals TV? Depends whom you talk to.)

If Ben Silverman is right, all future TV series will need bigger helping hands from advertisers-sponsors -- help that goes beyond just buying TV commercials. The former chief of NBC Entertainment said if it wasn't for some early involvement from advertisers like Staples in the form of branded entertainment during the initial slow days of NBC's "The Office," the show might have had a shorter life span.

Though Nickelodeon's "Fred: The Movie" succeeded and the jury is still out on CBS' "$#*! My Dad Says," TV shows derived from popular Internet content may not be any sort of predictor of future TV success.

Good news for TV execs everywhere: Most viewers know that new broadcast shows will arrive in the next several weeks. The bad? We probably know much less about these individual new shows than new show launches of the past.

Commodity has been a dirty word when it comes to television. Over the last few years, critics have used the word when discussing TV advertising inventory sold in auction-like electronic buying systems. TV commercials shouldn't be treated like a commodity, they say -- there is more to selling TV messaging; it's more than just price.

Two TV programs beg for attention like a car wreck between a Porsche and a smart car: E's new aptly named "Bridalplasty" and Oxygen's ongoing "Hair Battle Spectacular."

Nickelodeon's Nicktoons says it doesn't violate the Children's Television Act when it comes to a proposed animated show coming next month called "Zevo-3." So, for all intents and purposes, the network believes it can air as many advertising-message laden TV shows that it wants, including "Zevo-3," where animated characters represent different models of Skechers kids' footwear. How can this be? Because the Federal Communications Commission rule is an old and fuzzy one.

Charter Communications, your customers need the bigger picture. The cable operator thinks it's going to curry favor with its subscribers by telling them, in their bills, what is paid in retransmission fees to run broadcast networks. I have a better idea: Why not tell customers all the fees Charter pays for every network that goes into consumers' homes -- broadcast, cable, whatever? Consumer don't care about industry-speak "retransmission" fees. If they care at all, they care about all the money their cable company -- and, in turn -- what they, the consumers -- pay for cable programming fees.

Wonder why reality shows are still a favorite among TV marketers -- even with many at mediocre ratings? Just look at the total advertising/messaging time of those programs.