Jack Wakshlag, Chief Research Officer at Turner Broadcasting, offered a spirited endorsement Wednesday for Nielsen's proposed $1.26 billion deal to acquire Arbitron. The matter is rather simple from his perspective: the media industry needs reliable cross-platform measurement that can serve as a currency -- yesterday. And, he believes a marriage will move that along.

No matter how far-fetched breakout success might be (or even getting off the ground), entrepreneurs should generally be applauded. Where would cable TV be without Ted Turner and Bill Rasmussen (the ESPN founder) gambling all those years ago?

Apologies for the awful clich, but this new plan to expand instant replay in Major League Baseball is a home run. Who cares about its intention, think about the entertainment value.

Could Berkshire Hathaway be angling for a say in consolidation in the TV distribution business? It's certainly intriguing to envision its CEO Warren Buffett inviting the leaders of the top satellite distributors to some hideaway on the Nebraska plains to urge them to merge.

Revelations that the National Security Agency (NSA) has been monitoring all kinds of communication has struck a chord with the American people at a deeper level than most recent would-be government chicanery has. Maybe another reason to think so? People actually are offering some praise for the media or at least appreciating its value.

Considering Time Warner Cable serves a large chunk of New York City, it stands to reason the WCBS blackout would hurt the station's efforts to attract ad dollars in the heavily contested Big Apple mayor's race. And indeed, that appears to be the case with only one candidate having booked time covering any period during the darkness that started Aug. 2.

A "Me" generation has emerged in TV. Millions of viewers have an extraordinary sense of entitlement with the thinking: I want it now, I want it easy, I want it everywhere and I want endless choices. Cable operators get it. It's in the consumer research. At least, that's what Cox Communications found prior to launching a product suite and accompanying brand it hopes will satisfy this feeling of birthright that seems to get stronger and stronger.

Perry Sook, the chief of the Nexstar station group, appears to be a Republican. Or, maybe he's just a fan of GOP candidates, having contributed to the Mitt Romney and John McCain campaigns for the White House, the Federal Election Commission says. Of course, Romney spent a lot of 2012 advocating against Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in his presidential run, while McCain wants to repeal it as he remains in the senate. No word on whether Sook backs the ACA or not. But local TV executives have a way of putting politics aside when political or issue-oriented …

Advertisers questing after more set-top-box (STB) data with Nielsen partly reversing a decision to use the detailed information look to have some fuel thanks to a new deal between Rentrak and DirecTV. The arrangement will give Rentrak access to second-by-second data from 1 million DirecTV homes to meld into its measurement products.

If the Time Warner Cable blackout is hurting CBS, there is at least one figure offering striking contrary evidence. By one measure, household prime-time ratings on Tuesday in the New York market were down a mere 2%. After that, though, things aren't nearly as rosy.