Has political correctness and the networks insatiable appetite for cop drama and soft porn killed “appointment TV”? How ABC is bringing back family comedies that aren’t shy of addressing important topics in an informative, heartfelt and funny manner.

I've talked previously about the growing basic human need to remove ourselves at times from social media’s public stage; and our search for new apps that will offer us a means to express ourselves freely and without regret. However our partial escape from the theater of Facebook and Twitter to what we hoped was a new digital oasis in apps like Snapchat and Secret has turned out to be a mirage. Huge and glimmering, they and others like them have failed to keep us or our moments private and safe.

If Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are the stage, then apps like Snapchat, Wickr and Confide are the new digital oasis. Places that move us from being public performers, to just being our true selves. These apps and others like them have the ability to remove the “documentary pressure” of the web and turn it back into a regular method of conversation – one that is unavailable for third parties to hear, dissect or disseminate.

I’ve written previously on new technologies or services in the content distribution space that scream about how disruptive they are, the new found efficiency they bring, or my personal favorite – the “democratization” of content they unleash. Unfortunately, when you strip away the made-for-TechCrunch adjectives, we are (in many cases) simply left with a Rube-Goldberg like contraption built for one thing and one thing only – stealing someone else’s content and monetizing it.

Simply put, irrespective of the goals or KPI’s we establish to justify our media spend, changing consumption patterns via social media bear continued examination and media plans require continue fine tuning as these platforms continue their evolution.

Today, as always, agencies are in a state of transformation – moving from simply the art of ad creative and tech driven branding efforts and optimization to one of messaging, engagement and storytelling.

The concept of virtualization at the service provider level is nothing new. We’ve seen this in many instances in the mobile space for example, with Amp’d, Virgin Mobile, Boost and others becoming Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO’s) – albeit with mixed success. Therefore, it was only a matter of time before this trend moved into the cable space.

I recently started using new online music service Senzari and candidly have been pretty impressed. Billed as the new competitor to Pandora, Senzari brings a lot of eye candy, deep social networking ties to Facebook and a whopping catalogue of over 9 million songs – compared to Pandora’s 900,000.

Like a boomerang, brands and the meteoric rise of their proliferation on various social networks to increase reach and engagement – is the appropriate one given the reach social networks have to offer. However, now that they’ve thrown themselves into the social cloud, will it come back to them as they intend?

The recent demise of Qualcomm’s FLO TV experiment and the less than stellar enthusiasm for other mobile TV services continues to plague Mobile DTV’s vocal supporters and has generated fundamental questions about the offering and its future.

Recently, I re-tweeted an article on the challenges Flipboard is facing with respect to potential publisher copyright infringement (see “Flipboard CEO’s claim: We’re not building a business “on the backs of publishers”). In my re-tweet I made the comment “Not Good!” which obviously irked Mike McCue as he responded with a “Not True” comment on my re-tweet.

Over the past four months or so, two companies have literally become household names in the broadcast television industry. While most companies achieve this level of notoriety through the development of a disruptive technology or new consumer craze, both ivi and FilmOn have achieved it through an obvious disregard of US copyright, re-transmission consent and a host of other laws or rulings designed to protect both content owners and consumers.

Love them or hate them, use them or don’t, applications have taken the mobile industry by storm and demonstrate that mobile communication is more than just telephony and email. Apps are a critical part of a vast eco-system that bring us together and connect us with information, products and services in ways that are engaging, informative and entertaining.

I recently discovered a company down in the Bay Area called Zoove (www.zoove.com). Well, saying I discovered them is a stretch as they’ve been around for a number of years quietly building a compelling direct response mobile marketing service.

I believe in the power of iTV (in all of its forms) and the promise it holds for consumers, programmers and carriers alike. I was an early pioneer in this space, having co-founded Broadstream Communications, Inc. Also, I’m not here to pick on Google specifically, but rather what continues to play out in the iTV space.

Let’s face it, the term “video snacking” describes the quick and consistent consumption of video, and how millions of people have historically chosen to view content online.

Ever stare in wonder when you see a strong platform or solid business that fails to read the signs on the wall? Rather than recognize and adapt, they at best pay lip service to the issue and simply shoehorn in yesterday’s business models into today’s evolving marketplace. These thoughts and others always cross my mind when I think of the newspaper industry.

Call it what you want – content delivery, video aggregation, audience segmentation, brand networks, blah, blah, blah. Tons of people have given it a go, but ask any of them about what they do and if it’s working, and only a handful are able to give you a clearly defined answer.

There’s never been any question in my mind that content is King. However, a King’s influence and impact extends only as far as his domain allows. Trumpeted loudly yet kept within a narrow space, content may have wide awareness and desirability but it has little impact if consumers cannot or will not access it. Conversely, wide in reach but marginal in value and the content lacks impact and consumers will engage only for brief periods.

Advertisers should continue to experiment with new approaches to deliver targeted messages to more specific audiences. Understand where your target audience is going to find video content. If approached correctly, the right messaging at the right time could increase both your brand affinity and the ROI of your ad buy.