Regional TV sports networks may be finding a tougher road to travel in future years, as programming costs keep rising and TV consumers become more leery about incurring price increases. On top of this, traditional pay TV operators aren't all that interested anymore -- even if a niche group of consumers are apparently ready to pay.

These days -- if you are frugal shopper, with limited resources -- you indeed may be seeking alternatives, including skinnier TV packages, via cable, satellite, and telco, and/or new over the top digitally delivered services. If you believe the studies, the issue of "cord-shaving" is upon us -- especially with cable networks.

Virtual reality is finally here for consumer, as the first Oculus Rift units are shipping. For marketers, it may just mean another new medium to explore, with big expectations and long-term obstacles.

True "content marketing" may never come to the TV screen. But can you blame marketers for trying? In a fractionalized media environment, and with so much advertising avoidance, TV advertisers may be tempted to look for alternatives. But I contend: Content marketing for TV ain't it. Not that I've seen many examples yet; there is just a lot of talk that it's coming.

U.S. music revenues continue to be steady versus a year ago -- up 1% to $7.0 billion in 2015, all as its underlying ecosystem continues to shift. Should TV expect the same disruptions in years to come? We speak, of course, of digital media transformation.

Automotive TV advertising has long been a bellwether TV advertising category. But when we get into the big political TV advertising seasons, automotive advertisers -- as well as others marketers -- can get pushed out of key commercial periods. A Wall Street Journal report says this year -- in key political markets -- only about half of automotive advertiser commercials are running, according to a Kantar Media analysis.

Whenever possible, suck a few more dollars out of entertainment consumers -- preferably at high prices. This is the idea seemingly underlying The Screening Room.

Worries about media consolidation continue. But perhaps this is more about just TV network-based companies buying similar groups. A merger of movie studios -- one big and one mid-size -- might be less of a big deal, raising fewer red flags.

Marketers have long known strongly emotional shows mean good response and recall for their TV ads. Twitter says syncing a Twitter ad with a traditional TV commercial adds another 9% lift to ad recall.

ABC is getting from Warner Bros. what Comcast and others have been pushing for: the ability for viewers to catch up mid-year with an entire current season of episodes. Under a two-year deal, starting with new shows in the 2016-2017, ABC will offer all episodes of Warner Bros. series for that season -- those aired before the most current episode seen on ABC -- through a VOD service, possibly including Hulu.