FOR television as an advertising medium, these seem like troubled times: declining ratings for many shows, increasing use of DVRs, difficulties in reaching prized younger viewers, fragmentation of audiences, the growing appeal of digital media and even a service being introduced by Dish Network, Auto Hop, enabling customers to more easily skip commercials.

AirPlay, a software tool included with Apple's iPads and iPhones, is widely viewed as being potentially disruptive to the cable industry, because it makes it easy for people to view a broad variety of Internet content on a television. Time Warner Cable's leader, however, hasn't heard of it

Just 20% to 30% of Connected TVs in Europe are actually being hooked up to the Internet, according to a new report by the European Commission on the application of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD).

Years ago, before the cable boom, before the rise of social media, before broadband and Apple TV and Netflix and ­iEverything were at our fingertips, "the ­future of TV" was the subject of endless Clinton-era gold-rush-fever speculation. We were told exactly what it would look like: One day soon, we'd be able to watch Friends or ER whenever we felt like it, simply by saying to our TV-or better still, our home computer, which would control everything-"Show me the latest episode." Maximum consumer flexibility, maximum choice, maximum convenience. Tech nirvana.

With cable news too well-established - and too behind the curve with the internet - to attract major new players, the frontier of television is now online. AOL and HuffPo are leaping in, logically and naturally enough, with HPSN. The expected handful of web heavyweights are venturing into original programming - Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, and Google/YouTube are all in the mix.

So I've sparked something of a controversy without really meaning to by writing this post on piracy and Game of Thrones. I basically argued that if HBO wants to curb piracy, they should offer a stand-alone HBO GO service for non-cable customers, cord-cutters, and so forth.

Attending this Conference will allow you to: Understand today's potential solutions and anticipate the Connected TV and Smart TV innovations in the next following months Understand different business models for content websites (royalty, sales, etc.) Meet Connected and Smart TV international leaders such as operators, content aggregators, and technology solution distributors and providers Create a discussion forum in order to share industry know-how. Encourage Canadian investors to promote the development of solutions with strong commercial potential on an international scale Showcase Connected TV leaders in Quebec and Canada

Like Napster, BitTorrent and other technology companies attempting to innovate and disrupt, Aereo is facing intense push back from local broadcasters. Regardless of the legal challenges they face, Aereo has a sleek design and user interface, an amazing DVR feature a mission to bring more TV to your devices and a genius CTO with engineering at his core. Chaitanya (Chet) Kanojia Aereo's founder and CEO previously sold his company to Microsoft. We spoke with him about the social TV elements built into Aereo and how he thinks his product will make TV more social.

After filing a copyright lawsuit against Aereo in March, broadcasters on Wednesday detailed why a preliminary injunction is warranted.