By Anthony Crupi

Consider this the thrown gauntlet. Tear out this page and keep it within easy reach. Bookmark the Web page, print the pdf. All divinations 100 percent accurate or your money back.

FACT: People are watching more TV than ever before. And while atomization has served to further wizen the Big Four, advertisers remain so bewitched by the prospect of reach that they poured $8.26 billion into the 2010-11 broadcast upfront.

FACT: Barring catastrophe, the 2011-12 TV upfront will be the most lucrative in history. Clients are buying scatter inventory at prices between 20 and 30 percent over upfront rates. Despite buyer claims that there would be no Q4 scatter market, the broadcast and cable nets are on a tear.

FACT: Anyone pushing the "cord-cutting" angle is patrolling the wrong border. Until live sports are widely available for online streaming and consumers can watch live prime-time fare on their computers and smartphones, cord-cutting will be limited to the very young and the very broke.

FACT: At 40 percent penetration, the DVR is devastating to client marketing plans and media margins. If you buy into the odd research report that suggests DVR users are actually watching spots, you're engaging in true folly.

FACT: There will be a 2011-12 NFL season. Talk that the collective bargaining agreement is doomed to fail is hyperbolic; despite the NFLPA advising players to squirrel away their paychecks, the network partners don't seem to be sweating it out. Execs report that there are no contingency plans in place for a lockout, which in itself should go a long way toward dispelling fan anxiety. 

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