The cable providers lined Canoe's pockets with $150 million to make it happen. Tough task, says the Wall Street Journal, which reports that TV programmers fear targeted advertising because it might create such value for advertising clients that they end up spending less to reach only exactly those who might buy their products. If it's a fear that sounds arcane and self-damaging, well, welcome to the contrived world of television advertising, Mr. Verklin. Oh, and here's your paddle.

NBC, Martha Stewart, and Forbes use Adify to run their own networks; with capable sales forces but undersized websites, ad networks allow them to expand their Web reach. Cox was interested in signing up with Adify as a customer, then decided to buy them outright.

One hopes Cox executives don't think an Adify buy turns them into Google overnight. It gives them technology. But the value of a network isn't primarily in the technology; it's in the data, which allows the operator of the network to refine targeting, improve pricing, and increase its take. A number of small, atomic ad networks may keep salespeople better employed. But they won't overturn the industry's status quo.