I stopped keeping track of Nielsen stalking horse stories a long time ago. When I first started covering this business in the early 1980s, there was Arbitron (now, tellingly, part of Nielsen). Then there was AGB, R.D. Percy & Co., Arbitron again with its ScanAmerica "single-source" measurement play, then IAG (also now part of Nielsen), Arbitron again with its innovative portable people meters, ErinMedia, TiVo, TRA (now part of TiVo), Kantar Media -- and, of course, Rentrak. I probably left a few out, so feel free to add them to the comments section below this column, whose main point is …

Looking for the TV hits -- any hits, reality, comedy, drama -- this past season? Keep looking, and then wonder, what am I really looking for?

Broadcasters won their big battle against Aereo, and broadcasting stocks on Wednesday immediately rose. CBS saw the biggest lift -- 6%, to $62.48. Some core station groups witnessed even better gains: Sinclair Broadcast Group soared 16% to $33.80; Media General 10% to $20.33; and Nexstar Broadcasting Group 14% to $48.81.

World Cup ratings bigger than all the recent NBA Final games say much about how soccer interest has grown in the U.S. But what does this mean to U.S. TV advertisers, especially in the three years between World Cup tournaments?

Big TV content providers are not only seeing legal attacks from the likes of Aereo -- the company that sells individual "digital" antenna service to consumers -- but from those pushing for a la carte programming, or at least less network packaging to TV distributors.

What's your TV investment pleasure: sports TV or Spanish-language TV? Sending up smoke signals that it was interested in selling, Univision Communications, may be looking to capitalize on both -- especially this time of year, when it's airing the World Cup.

Senior TV buying executives are looking over their shoulders, carefully negotiating this upfront season while awaiting possible long-term complications from the Supreme Court decision about Aereo.

When you have true-blue entertainment fans, nothing can stand in their way of watching, or perhaps funding, their needs -- maybe even with TV shows. Some Richmond, Va. fans of Foo Fighters worked to crowdsource a concert -- hoping their beloved group might then consider holding a live event in their town. Why? The band hadn't played there since 1998 -- and prominent member Dave Grohl happens to be from Virginia. Lo and behold, $70,000 was raised through crowdfunding -- enough for the band to commit to a concert. Each of 515 individual donors spent $50 for a ticket. A …

Australian ABC TV is exporting a smart, sexy, slick mystery series -"Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries." Phryne Fisher, a glamorous 1920s feminist flapper from Melbourne, Australia, is a female cross between The Saint and James Bond.

After following the turmoil of "Downton Abbey" and the smart, cynical Mamet-like prose of "Veep," I was struck by the ordinary, offbeat appeal of "The Middle." It's the anti-"Modern Family." No one is having a good time.