Start wondering what, if anything, a downtrending stock market -- and an iffy U.S. economy -- will do to this year's upfront marketplace. Network executives have been ebullient when looking at the current TV scatter market in the fourth and first quarter of this current broadcast season, touting very high pricing.

DraftKings was supposed to spend $500 million in advertising on ESPN through a multiple-year blockbuster deal. Now? All bets are off, according to reports.

Kobe Bryant decided to retire when he found that, while meditating, he was no longer "obsessing" about basketball. The Los Angeles Lakers sure-to-be Hall of Famer's meditations didn't spur him to work harder in the sport he loved; he wasn't all that interested anymore. Digging deeper, you realize the "work" was never about resting and feeling comfortable. For any number of " challenged" media companies "feeling comfortable" isn't a phrase you'll hear much.

Product placement is alive and well in the biggest TV event of the year. Still, Denver Broncos' Peyton Manning mentioning his desire to drink some Budweisers after the Super Bowl sure seemed out of sync.

Richard Sherman of the Seattle Seahawks said he wasn't going to watch the Super Bowl this year. Andrew Luck of the Indianapolis Colts didn't really watch last year, and odds are he didn't watch this year. Hey, Super Bowl advertisers: Are you really getting all the viewers you want? True NFL combatants can't really watch, maybe because it's too difficult not to be there playing. All to say, marketers may be missing this niche "competitor demographic."

User-generated consumers and makers, it's time to graduate. YouTube's Red service looks to appeal to millennials. But unlike YouTube free service, with limited advertising support, YouTube Red is a subscription-video-on-demand, no-advertising service, costing $9.99 a month.

Fantasy sports companies DraftKings and Fan Duel bought a lot of airtime in the regular season NFL games -- and grabbed a lot of headlines. But don't look to either of them buying any advertising time in the Super Bowl.

Hulu may be much smaller than Netflix as a digital video service. But it always had this slight advantage: On Hulu, you could watch some episodes from a show's current season.This troubles Time Warner, who is considering taking an equity position in the digital video service. Seems that Time Warner wants Hulu to be more like Netflix, which typically strike deals with networks for less valuable episodes of previous seasons of TV series.

U.S. TV and movie companies are doing great. So - why are big U.S. media companies continuing to make cutbacks?

The trend line for TV sports dollars goes in pretty much one direction: higher, for TV networks and advertisers. But there's more to it. The new Los Angeles Rams will get pretty much the same share that the St. Louis Rams did. NFL teams split equally its share of the money from national TV contracts. In 2015, that came to $226.4 million per team. That's right, all teams get the same money.