... it is a European word meaning “Bruxelles in the rain in the winter.”  I don’t think I’d ever thought of that word unbidden before we drove from the airport to city center.

Still, the dreary day or so before the sun suddenly appeared could not dampen the sense of upside at Cable Europe in “The Square.”  (Note: an interesting venue right next to the central train station with an Apple-style glass cube as an entrance – well, the Louvre was probably first with that).  Nice facility; so-so food; and a cash bar from Viacom Int’l.  Interesting second-year take on the idea of a unifying master of ceremonies – actually more like a ringmaster as the hyper-Aussie BBC presenter seemed to always be “on” encouraging email questions for panelists amidst stage-strutting.

Opening Thursday's panels with a rather droll take on the steady growth in digital, broadband and telephony driven by the ‘triple-play,’ IHS Screen Digest’s Guy Bisson featured a steady stream of charts to make the point.  More trenchant was his concluding point that, as Evie Haskell mentioned in SkyBOX Friday, the explosion of devices and the multi-screen demands are taking cable back to its roots in, of all things, television.

Following Guy, a most impressive moderator from Accenture (the Scotsman Gary Heffernan) elicited real information from panelists including Credit Suisse’ Marisa Drew.  In an echo from an earlier stage of cable in the US (a clarion reminder of incoming Cable TV Hall of Fame'r Leo Hindery and the Summer of Love), she asserted, “Markets are screaming for consolidation. There’s a geographical prohibition that is preventing this from happening in Europe and on the market side, we would love to see one operator in markets like Germany being able to take on the incumbent and invest in the industry. We hope regulators see this logic, too.”

About that ... we’ll see if we can help by assembling some data to drive home the point of scale.

Meanwhile:

• Here’s how to save print: the Newspaper Association of America petitioned the FCC to drop the same market cross ownership rules ... after all, the rule “is a relic.”  I strongly agree ... to better keep a vibrant local news medium, it ought to be able to make that a plural media combining all technologies with broadcast, print and web – and, of course, cable – journalists working together.

An eon ago, I tried to find a way to engineer the merger of every media outlet in Livingston, Montana.  No dice.  Pity.

Another incoming Cable TV Hall of Fame'r (mega-philanthropist Jerry Lenfest) is part of a consortium looking at bidding for the Philadelphia Inquirer ... hope he succeeds.

• Will the non-renewal of 22-year New York anchor Sue Simmon’s contract at NYC’s WNBC be Steve Burke’s third "Smash-ing" mistake?  (Even in Bruxelles we get the media noise.)  Still, heck of track record.

• On to "sunny" London.•

Why the Internet Won't Kill TV

The theory goes like this: Just as the internet all but killed the publishing industry's ad market, so too will it end the business of advertising on TV. Some believe it's simply a matter of time. Others aren't so sure.

One such naysayer is Bernstein Research's Todd Juenger, who says there is "plenty of room" for both internet and TV advertising to grow and thrive. The firm's own projections say the internet will generate as much as $40B over the next five years, and skeptics say that that revenue has to come from somewhere. But Jeunger says total marketing spend is always a certain percentage of GDP and the current ratio is "far below historical norms."

In addition, Juenger says internet consumption isn't causing a decline in TV consumption as Americans' time spent with TV has been growing for decades (about 1% per year)... reaching a "whopping" 8.4 hours per HH per day (2010). And, he says, the notion that teenagers are watching less TV is a myth. Youngsters may be using a greater variety of screens than their adult counterparts to access media, but Juenger says it hasn't displaced their consumption of traditional TV.

"It has been said, there are only two sure things in life, death and taxes," Juenger said. But "there are actually three sure things: death, taxes, and Americans watching inordinate amounts of TV." •

Etc.: Retrans Round-Up - Broadcasters Support Basic Encyption - NBCU Joins 'Upfront'

Retrans: The FCC may not have the authority to employ retrans reform, but it does have an obligation to keep tabs on its media ownership rules every four years. This piece from SNL Kagan says the agency could tackle retransmission reform within its media ownership review. --- Conservative "think tank" Frontiers of Freedom is telling Congress to stay out of retrans consent negotiations. The group says the current marketplace is "functional" and works "over 99% of the time... so why is there a need for the federal government to get involved?" FoF also says the pay-TV industry is distorting the market by forcing broadcasters to give signals away for free when negotiations break down. --- DISH settled its retrans dispute with Bayou City Broadcasting for two Texas-based Fox-affiliates KXVA-TV in Abilene and KIDY-TV in San Angelo.

Rules & Regs: The FCC released additional formats of "high-need data" for analysis on potentially eligible areas for Phase I funds of the Connect America Fund. Details here. --- Sen. Grassley's still P.O.'ed about LightSquared and issued a statement blasting the FCC for not making a couple staffers available to talk about the deal. The FCC fired back saying it has tried "multiple" times to meet with the Republican lawmaker's staff and is cooperating with the House Energy & Commerce Committee's probe. Stay tuned. --- Colorado legislators have introduced a bi-partisan bill seeking to "modernize" the state's communications laws and reduce consumer fees for broadband services. Reports say the bill would reduce corporate subsidies and consumer surcharges on phone bills, and allow the gov't to issue grants for broadband infrastructure development. Details here. --- NBCU, News Corp., CBS and Disney wrote to the FCC in support of allowing cable companies to encrypt basic-tiers in all-digital systems.

OTT: Lots of response coming in from our coverage of Netflix and DIRECTV. Conveniently, Forbes is running a story that says DIRECTV is indeed looking to start a streaming service "soon," but that it's probably not through a partnership with Netflix. Get the story. --- Further, Netflix is in talks with "several Hollywood studios" for new movie titles... FT has details.

WebTV: NBCUniversal has joined Google, Yahoo, Hulu and Microsoft planing to participate in the two-week long, TV-style "upfront" event called 'The Digital Content Newfront.' The initiative is an effort to show advertisers that webTV is a legitimate alternative to traditional TV. AdAge has the story. --- Oxygen Media announced a partnership with ACTV8.ME to power its new socialTV platform for "The Glee Project" season two, premiering this summer 2012.

Tech: Tech leaders in NY say there are major differences between HD and 3D that will keep the latter from being embraced like the former. (Hint: It's way more expensive.) 

M&A: New Frontier Media said it received an unsolicited bid from investment firm Longkloof Limited for $1.35 per share. NOOF closed trading Friday up almost 17% at $1.32. The company says it will review the offer.

Deals: Sinclair inked a SSA with Manhan Media to manage CW-affiliate WWHO in Columbus. (LIN sold WWHO to Manhan in Feb. for $7M.) --- Crown Media signed on with Rentrak for measurement services for Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movie Channel.

Programming: Entravision is launching a weekly political public affairs show "Perspectiva Nacional con Armando Guzman" on all 24 of its O&O Univision affiliate stations (in "key battleground" states of CT, CO, NV, NM, FL, CA, MA, TX and D.C.) on Sunday nights at 8:30pm ET.

Brussels: In closing remarks from Cable Congress 2012, European Commission VP Neelie Kroes said the agency plans to investigate connected TVs and support cloud computing in the near future. The commissioner reiterated the importance of embracing the new technologies as 90% of TVs sold in Europe over the next 2 years will be connected models.

Over, Up & Under: Ofcom has appointed a team of regulators to monitor BSkyB to determine if the company is worthy of holding a broadcast license. The agency is concerned about the company with regards to its chairman... the embattled James Murdoch. --- The BBC is working on a "radical" a la carte TV download plan that would compete with iTunes. paidContent has more. --- Bell said it would make live Vancouver Whitecaps FC matches (Major League Soccer) available on Bell MobileTV.

Events: The NCTA landed some big names to speak at The Cable Show 2012 in May including: Conan O'Brien (TBS), Piers Morgan (CNN), David Stern (NBA Commissioner), Deval Patrick (Mass. Gov.), Glenn Britt (TWC), Jeff Bewkes (TWX), Pat Esser (Cox) and John Skipper (ESPN).

Oops!: Kristin Dolan's title at Cablevision is senior executive VP.

--- Catch today's media market news in The Evening BRIDGE. •