As the oft-nauseating frisson about Super Bowl ads is maybe two weeks away, it's hard to recall a spot having more of an impact than the Snickers gambit last year. Not for the candy bar, mind you, but the favor it did for its star Betty White.

Broadcast television -- the most at risk because of its reliance on ad money -- continues to attract high-spending marketers even as ratings drop.

The most powerful men in America next year could very well be Roger Goodell and DeMaurice Smith. Why? Because American can't do without the NFL.

The president of Sunflower, the country's 68-th largest broadcaster, ended its relationship with Nielsen and rolled the dice with Rentrak -- and never looked back.

John Kerry has displayed a wishy-washy attitude as he leads Senate oversight of the spreading carriage disputes. It's an issue that threatens to impact broadcast TV for years to come. Kerry had a hammer, then simply put it back in the tool box.

New research from the Collaborative Alliance Set Top Box Think Tank reveals wide swings between Nielsen and STB ratings from Rentrak.

When Comcast was considering purchasing NBC Universal, one of its advisors urged the cabler only to do the deal if it would embrace the future of broadcast TV. That guru, News Corp. COO Peter Chernin, said he told Comcast head Brian Roberts to only spend the billions if you can "fall in love" with NBC.

Who says all the breakthrough ideas come from Madison Avenue? Consider the creative gambit out of Stanville, Kentucky, population 500, from an enterprising lawyer. He's using 3D TV spots to advertise his law firm.

For broadcasters, the dollars coming from pay-TV distributors to carry their programming is becoming a narcotic and in danger of impairing judgment. There is a turf war emerging; it's marked by greed and threatens to derail an ecosystem that could have a long-lasting impact on the business.

With complex algorithms for calculating ROI and brainstorming about multiplatforms and multiple touch points, Fox's Jon Nesvig says research has partly trumped relationships, but handshakes are still key.