To listen to Mike Mulvihill, Fox Sports isn't just writing huge checks to acquire sports rights and willing to sit back and watch consumers foot the bill. Fox isn't looking to collect increasingly higher fees from cable and satellite operators and let them deal with the frustrated, economically struggling customers.

Last year, legendary adman John Hegarty offered a British reporter a compelling guide for making TV ads resonate in today's media world: "Super Bowl to super-social." Use TV as the platform to widely distribute a spectacular spot and watch commentary (hopefully positive) cascade through Twitter, while YouTube views keep climbing.

If just several years ago, mining for TV targeting gold seemed as tough as holding out a pan in a stream, it's pretty impressive how many more modern options are available. Deciding the best route to reach a target audience will never be perfect, but the science being applied to get as close as possible is profound.

In this month's Leaders & Bleeders, Nancy Dubuc powers ahead by taking over programming for all A+E Networks, while "Honey Boo Boo" generates buzz. But the fiscal cliff could heighten fears of an economic tailspin just as people are shaking off New Year's Eve hangovers and the Nexstar station group loses a court ruling against Time Warner Cable.

Cable ad sales executives shrugging their shoulders at reports about cord-cutting, declining ratings and digital spending shifts threatening their business can probably continue to rest easy for a while. Projections call for all of the top-25 networks in 2011 ad revenues to post gains this year except two: the ratings-challenged Nickelodeon and CNN.

During the Republican primary debates, candidate Newt Gingrich essentially had one message: I can debate President Obama better than anyone, so vote for me. Like him or not, Gingrich is smart, quick-on-his-feet and can dial up some zingers. Romney beat Gingrich, but does he stand a chance against Obama on the debate stage?

There's little surprise the DVR has impacted how the Big Four networks put together their prime-time line-ups with people recording shows to watch later. And, yet there's still an adherence to the old days when an 8 p.m. show was to elegantly lead into the next hour, which would flow into the hour after that - hopefully with one night even setting the table for the next. At least, that's the world where CBS operating.

Odds of succeeding in the restaurant business are about on par with developing a TV hit. Bravo has figured out how to navigate the TV road many times over. So, why wouldn't it give the brick-and-mortar culinary business a go?

There's a lot of irony going on here. In 2010, Cablevision had Fox blacked out for two weeks in a nasty fee dispute. Similarly, it now has New York's CW affiliate (WPIX) off the air. But, it's gone to court trying to help Fox and WPIX get the dollars it hates paying them.

With Aereo, there's an entertaining contrast between funder and fundee. Barry Diller, the chairman of financial backer IAC, has been a big-talking and provocative champion of the service, which streams live broadcast channels to mobile devices. Company CEO Chet Kanojia is low-keyed and reticent.