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.

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.

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.

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.

Here at 1cast, we’re very committed to bringing the best of television news from around the world to your desktop, mobile or any other device. And yesterday we delivered a breakthrough that goes far beyond technology. We are the first to bring Al Jazeera to the US.