The NFL, the biggest sport franchise in the U.S., now wants an advertising foothold in gambling, a legitimate growing business that has long looked to the league to become a marketing partner of sorts.

The 16-year winning streak of NBC's "Today" as the top-rated network morning show hasn't ended yet. Katie Couric's week-long turn on "Good Morning America" helped ABC get the closest it has been to "Today" in seven years -- within 200,000 viewers. ("Today" had 5.1 million viewers, "GMA" 4.9 million.) As we come close to the end of the season, we wonder if other reigning network shows will get a close scare, say Fox's longtime prime-time champ "American Idol."

One radio station in Los Angeles -- KSWD 100.3 The Sound -- tells listeners it doesn't play the same song twice in a 24-hour period. Its tagline: "Album Rock. True Variety." Apparently people can be bored listening to "Born to Run" at 8 in the morning and then hearing it at 10 p.m. that night. This can be the opposite of a cable TV network, where a rerun of a show within a 24-hour period is sometimes not only necessary, but desired.

Short attention spans apply to the digital world more than we realize -- especially for young consumers. A new Time Inc/Innerscope Research biometric study of those who use lots of media platforms and devices -- so-called "digital natives" who grew up with mobile technology versus those who took on mobile devices as an adults -- show they switch media some 27 times per hour.

Honesty is tough to come by in Hollywood -- but Ron Meyer, president and chief operating officer of Universal Studios, took a real stab at it. "We make a lot of shitty movies," Meyer was quoted by Movieline as saying at a film festival in November. "Every one of them breaks my heart."

How should an NFL sponsor react to news of a New Orleans Saints defensive coach repeatedly telling his players to "kill the head" of an opposing player? That football is a violent game? Natch. That coaches use whatever motivation they can to get players to play hard and win games? Natch. That hard-hitting, tough football makes good television? Of course.

Give credit to Time Warner Cable for news you don't often hear from a cable operator. Instead of high price increases from cable networks fostering threats from the operator to drop those channels, this time it's all about ratings. Say what you will about the current TV viewing measurement system, there is something interesting when a cable operator, in effect, says to a cable network: "If you do underwhelming TV ratings, we will cancel you." Hey, these guys are almost -- dare I say -- acting like real TV programmers.

Now we know the real secret about social media and TV. It isn't necessarily about "engaging" current viewers of popular TV shows. It's about keeping low-rated shows on the air.

Let's talk viewer erosion: not just the type we have seen on broadcast TV, but also on cable TV networks. Should this be any sort of concern?

Keith Olbermann is gone again. But where has his brand gone? Nine months into his Current TV thing, the controversial news anchor has been fired for... well, the usual reasons. He previously lasted some seven years at MSNBC. What does this say about the Olbermann brand now? Perhaps something different than you think.