Questions

* Why is it OK for national shows like "60 Minutes" to do segments that are longer than 1:30, but it's not OK for local news?

* Why is commentary allowed on shows like Bob Schieffer or even local big-market stations, but ruled out for use in other local markets?

* Why do some stations feature the top ten movies of the week, but neglect to mention top iTunes downloads?

* Why, at some stations, is healthy discussion over important and compelling local events between anchors and guests as part of the newscast completely ruled out for inclusion?

* Why do markets outside the top 50 or so rely upon hand-written Nielsen diaries filled out by a sample size of less than 1% of the population to set ratings and thus advertising rates? More importantly, is there an age shift from this definitively non-random sub-set of the population? When Nielsen ratings shift from hand-written diaries to set top box information (which is a more accurate determination of actual viewers), will stations be in a rude awakening to see how many young viewers they actually have?

(more to come...)