Apple's Steve Jobs told biographer Walter Isaacson he wanted to do for television sets what he did for mobile phones. Jobs told him he had "cracked the secret."

  According to Nielsen, 40% of smartphone and tablet users are so fascinated with using those new devices while watching TV -- to check emails, send social messages or go to websites -- that TV programs could be suffering. Much has been made about social media helping TV shows. But maybe it doesn’t help the likes of "Modern Family," "The Vampire Diaries" or "The Walking Dead." Sixty percent of people with mobile devices surveyed said they checked email while watching TV, while 40% to 50% engaged in searches unrelated to the shows they were watching. All of which means …

New political or social movements have brand names that pull in some emotional value on TV. But what about specifics? That's elusive -- and probably should stay that way for short-term or mid-term success. The "Occupy Wall Street" movement has gained a lot of TV exposure. As usual, it comes from news coverage and virtually no paid messaging (though the movement now has some nice retro-looking, movie-like key art).

Now you might define profitability for a TV network by what kind of deal you make with the likes of Netflix. For CW -- and its co-owners, CBS and Warner Bros -- a long-term deal, possibly a billion dollars, with Netflix for the streaming rights to its prime-time shows will put the network in the black, according to Les Moonves, president/CEO of CBS Corp.

All roads are heading toward a very busy entertainment financial intersection of rising cable program costs meeting networks and content providers always searching for the next big thing. The thing: distribution.

While there have been many discussions of Steve Jobs' accomplishments, when it comes to the TV industry, one accomplishment initially stands out: iTunes. By itself, the creation of iTunes -- the web-based media content platform and its related iPod, iPhone and iPad hardware -- isn't all that compelling. But throw in an overused word, "vision," and you've got something. Jobs had a vision of what TV could be like in the digital world.

Sixty dollars for a new Hollywood movie on your home TV? Cinemark, National Amusements, and other theater chain owners, you had nothing to worry about. The fact that Universal wanted to sell the movie "Tower Heist" three weeks after it opened theatrically under a so-called "premium video on demand" window, would have done little to discourage viewers looking to watch it on the big screen. No matter. After weeks of threatening talks from theater chain executives, Universal pulled the test, which was to run in a few Comcast cable markets.

Apologies aside, Netflix didn't backtrack on one point in its Qwikster snafu that mattered most: pricing. Netflix is keeping its 60% monthly increase for consumers. (Thanks. My medical premiums only went up 10% this past year). For the company, it kept something perhaps more important: The brand name Netflix. Will consumers still be happy about that? In all this mess, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings got something right: Consumers like simplicity. (Take note, all you proponents of cable industry a la carting). One price, one bill. Period. Netflix still needs to remedy the issue of building its stocks of …

According to Anne Sweeney, president of Disney-ABC Television Group, we just don't know what television will become -- but one thing's for sure, it will continue to be strong and influential -- and more personal. She said: "Television has always been something you watch. Now, increasingly, it's also something you do." TV will be even more personal? How close does it need to be?

Entertainment marketers love the idea of social media -- its immediacy and edginess. But as this digital word-of-mouth gets more play, it includes messages which might not be so positive.