Established media companies buying young media upstarts isn't a new trend -- especially when it come to tech companies looking to help those established companies make easier digital transitions. Still, many observers wonder whether those tech companies will have broader influence.

So what are the odds that NBC's "Sunday Night Football" will be number one again in viewership for the 2015-2016 season? Pretty good. NFL continues to deliver stable TV ratings -- even with controversial on- and off-the-field drama.

Wondering how the late-night talk show scene will shake out come September -- when Stephen Colbert starts on CBS's "The Late Show"? Soon adding to the mix will be reruns of the "The Tonight Show" starring Johnny Carson, to air on Tribune Broadcasting's Antenna TV, starting Jan. 1, 2016.

You think you're in control of your media? Better look closer, especially when you have a TV remote in one hand and a smartphone in the other.

Media consumption seems to be moving at an ever faster pace, especially when one considers bingeing. But maybe faster isn't always better. Hulu, perhaps the closest wannabe-Netflix competitor, is going to release episodes of its original TV series one episode a week -- pretty much like what traditional TV networks still do, and the opposite of Netflix's typical release of an entire season-worth of episodes all at once.

NBC Sports is expecting over $1 billion in ad sales from the Summer Olympics in Rio next year. But perhaps this is a cautious estimate -- especially in light of the $1.3 billion record for ad sales recorded in the previous Summer Olympics in London in 2012.

While we have been worried about personal information getting into the wrong hands -- via hacking of laptops, mobile devices, or otherwise - we could start to worry about the sophisticated software inside other devices. Should we start to fear hacks into our TV sets?

If you had any doubt where the marketplace was going, all you needed to do was look at Wall Street on Wednesday, when the traditional media faced off against newer media platforms. Stock market trading of Walt Disney, 21st Century Fox, CBS., Comcast, and Time Warner stocks were down, from an eye-opening 5% to 11% -- all while Netflix was up 2.2% and Facebook gained 2.4%.

ESPN has to have a game plan in a world that is moving -- albeit slowly -- to a stand-alone, a-la-carte TV/video ecosystem. And early tea leaves point to a development of ESPN as a premium TV service

Does MSNBC need a name change? Well, it needs something. It has lower viewer ratings than Fox News and now CNN. Mass changes in hosts and programs seem to offer up a lot of confusion for viewers. Recently the network has canceled a number of shows and let go some on-air talent. Back to its name: The "MS" part of "MSNBC" doesn't make sense. After a long, unusual partnership between Microsoft and NBC -- which started way back in 1996 -- NBC finally bought out its partner in 2012. Microsoft has nothing to do with the news channel now.