Jeanine Poggi

As more people watch content across a variety of platforms and devices, and on an increasingly delayed basis, AT&T and Time Warner believe they can better tackle the changes in viewership behavior together. When it comes to advertising, the thinking is that combining the vast troves of data from a telecommunications giant and the TV programmer behind shows including HBO's "Game of Thrones" and TBS's "Full Frontal with Samantha Bee" will allow for greater audience targeting and ad relevance.

Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes said the deal would allow for "more innovation in advertising" where the ads will become "more effective and of interest to you in one house versus someone else in a different house." Bewkes went on to say that people like advertising so long as it is relevant to them. Time Warner's Turner division has been helping to lead the TV industry when it comes to audience targeting. Its portfolio of data products, while still in its infancy, allow advertisers to buy inventory based on specific consumer targets rather than on the traditional Nielsen age and gender demographics. Still, the combination of the two isn't expected to meaningfully advance addressable advertising, said Brian Wieser, senior analyst at Pivotal Research. "I think there aren't many implications on the ad sales angle in any practical way, as AT&T AdWorks is pretty small, but I can imagine they would try to establish some ad products that are similar to some that NBCU/Comcast has announced, which include some bundling of VOD and addressable units into AT&T/DirecTV inventory," he said. "Again, as a practical matter, that's not going to be very meaningful."

A 21st Century Fox acquisition of Time Warner would create a high concentration of the all-important 18-to-49 TV viewing demographic within one media conglomerate, giving the joined entity significant pricing power over advertisers.

The new company would command 27% of total-day TV viewership across the top 15 cable networks, and 24% of it among the 18-to-49 demo, said Kannan Venkateshwar, analyst at Barclays.

TV networks' apparently total victory over Aereo at the Supreme Court isn't necessarily a long-term win for the broadcasters, observers and analysts said as the implications of the ruling settled in.

By solidifying broadcasters' ability to demand retransmission fees from any new technology that seeks to carry their signals, the Court may have also reminded Congress about an increasing complaint from constituents: out-of-control cable fees.

Leaders of the House Commerce Committee have already responded to the Supreme Court's decision, saying it underscores the need to rewrite communications laws.

"While the court ruled that Aereo had overstepped, invention and innovation are at the heart of America's global leadership in communications and technology development," said House Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI). "This case underscores the mounting need to modernize the 80-year-old Communications Act, which serves as an important, yet outdated, framework for the communications industry."

ABC has largely wrapped its upfront deals, according to a network spokeswoman, making it the second broadcaster to conclude its annual summer deal-making.

The alphabet network declined to provide guidance on pricing and volume, but said it is pleased with where it landed, secured "appropriate" volume and is "well poised" to sell the remaining inventory closer to its actual air date, in the so-called scatter market. ABC secured price hikes between 4% and 5%, according to a person familiar with negotiations. That's down from the 7% to 8% increases it garnered in 2013.

CBS has largely completed its upfront sales, according to the network.

"As we near the finish line, we are very confident that CBS has once again achieved the highest pricing and most total dollars in the upfront marketplace," the company said. "Agencies and clients continue to value the strength, stability and delivery that we provide as a pure-play broadcaster, and we are very pleased that in addition to C3, C7 is now playing a meaningful part in our negotiations."

CBS has been among the most vocal in asking advertisers to pay for ads viewed within seven days of their original airing rather than the current industry standard of three days. Media agency network GroupM agreed to negotiate broadly on that week-long basis, known as C7.

While CBS again ended the season as the most-watched channel overall, its total viewership dropped 9%, meaning it had fewer ratings points to sell going into next season. It also lost its lead in viewers aged 18 to 49 years old, where NBC came in No. 1.

Other media agencies aren't likely to follow in GroupM's footsteps by striking broad agreements to use C7 in upfront deals, according to people familiar with the upfront market.

GroupM has entered into agreements with broadcasters including CBS, Fox and NBC to pay for ad time based on commercial ratings across seven days, a measure called C7 in the industry.

The current standard, C3, only considers commercials seen within a three-day window. While most agencies did C7 deals for select clients during the 2013 upfront, GroupM's agreements will apply to a breadth of clients across its portfolio of agencies, according to people familiar with the pacts, making it the biggest move yet into paying for seven-day viewing.

GroupM, WPP's powerful media-agency group, controls about 30% of the total dollars spent on network TV, with clients like Procter & Gamble, AT&T and Paramount Pictures. And RBC Capital Markets analyst David Bank wrote that most other agencies will "likely have to move in lock-step at some point soon."

But its move isn't likely to generate a domino effect, at least not in 2014, some media buyers and others insist. Other agencies are still hesitant to strike broad-based agreements for C7 that would apply to a majority of their clients.

Viacom is taking steps toward offering advertisers guarantees for the social media impact it can give them.

The company, which owns networks such as MTV and Comedy Central, plans to underpin the guarantees with data from Mass Relevance on social activity across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Vine, Google + and YouTube in real time, according to Jeff Lucas, head of sales, music and entertainment, at Viacom.

The resulting measurement platform -- dubbed Echograph -- will bring a level of accountability to social media that has yet to be seen from TV networks, Lucas said. It will let Viacom give clients data on reach, influencers, engagement, age and gender breakdowns and hashtag popularity, among others.