A glut of Super Bowl related-advertising analysis and research is available for your perusal. It's some neuron overload.

We all know what big data can do for TV marketers, specifically in improving media investment returns. But what can big data do for the creation of premium programming?

Have some stations and networks gone app-crazy? Not really, said Emily Barr, president/CEO of Post Newsweek Stations: "With our six stations, we have launched 68 apps in just the last year....We generated close to 1 million downloads of those apps. Some are news apps; some are weather apps. Some are specialty apps. We built an app for the Detroit Auto Show."

All TV/media companies take one step to the left. What's all this shifting of TV chairs? Broadcast networks becoming cable networks? Cable networks becoming Internet video companies? YouTube videos becoming media conglomerates?

Every two years, TV advertisers still get hyped about the broad reach and opportunity of the Olympics. They also worry about the games' unpredictability. Ratings have proved an incredible lure in recent years, since the Olympics' numbers are virtually Teflon amongst TV audience erosion. But this event also gets a lot of attention from people seeking a platform for their non-sports messages. More than perhaps other Olympics, political and terrorist activities seem to be threatening the Sochi Winter Olympics.

TV's looking for some new money through the old ways of doing business. First, NBC aired a live musical, "The Sound of Music" last December, which garnered top ratings. Now Bill Cosby is returning to the same network. And NBC's planning a live "Peter Pan" musical for the next holiday season. Family entertainment might be in vogue again. The executives at Hallmark Channel are probably smiling, since that independently owned network posted a nice 38% prime-time viewership gain in November.

Native advertising has come to the Super Bowl's TV marketing buildup. Buffalo Bills Hall of Famer Bruce Smith appeared on ESPN Wednesday to talk about all things Super Bowl and of course, about the hottest football brand of the moment: the Seattle Seahawks' Richard Sherman. A moment after being introduced to viewers on ESPN's "SportsCenter," the host said Smith's appearance came courtesy of Bud Light, which then offered a message of caution about drinking too much during the big game.

Is it a good time to be an owner or part owner of a sports network or programming slate? Discovery Communications has spent about $1.2 billion to obtain controlling interest in top satellite provider Eurosport from French network TF1. Discovery previously owned 20% of the network and now owns 51%. Some might see this in part as an expansion of Discovery's strong "reality" programming slate. Others might see it as an effort to get into the live TV event game -- something big U.S. networks increasingly understand due to time-shifted programming and commercial avoidance.

It can be complicated to compare subscriber numbers of traditional TV services to new premium digital TV services. Take HBO, Showtime and Netflix. HBO has some 28 million subscribers, Showtime 22 million and Netfix 31 million. All three say they continue to grow. But a recent NPD Group survey showed a rise in subscription video on demand subscribers (SVOD) services like Netflix concurrent with a decline in subscribers for traditional pay TV channels like HBO and Showtime.

From the Having-Your-Cake-And-Eating-It-Too Department: The NFL is now requiring the network that wins its “Thursday Night Football” package to simulcast those games on the league’s own NFL Network. A deal under this configuration would give the NFL what equates to an advertising-revenue share arrangement, one that few TV programmers receive. It’s hard to find anyone holding a strong hand in TV these days.  The NFL is a rare, growing TV franchise in viewership on virtually all its network partners -- Fox, NBC, CBS, ESPN and DirecTV. The question is: “Where is the saturation point?”  Right now, the NFL doesn’t seem …