Yet every time I hear the “TV Everywhere” chorus, I wonder who made this “the moment”. Because it most certainly does NOT seem to be any kind of definitive moment for me. I still watch the shows I like, exchange the content I dig up online, no matter whether the cable is connected, wrapped, cut or hanging out behind my TV. Perhaps TV Everywhere is a song based on the agenda of cable providers desperately trying to figure out how to keep subscribers, and big content providers trying to make sure they keep their prized demographics.

But seriously, is cutting the cord and watching content across various platforms/devices really the issue when considering what comes through to whatever screen? Do platforms really matter in that context? Does the fact that Google TV wants to offer an all-you-can-eat content buffet really alter my tastes in any profound way? I think not.

As audiences, we care about whatever our interests are at the moment, not so much about the gear, or the platform. Although certain platforms make the experience of entertainment smoother and more convenient to our lifestyles, the truth remains that we follow that which moves us. And sometimes those of us who spend a lot of time thinking about technology and content in a slightly abstract way forget this. Yet, ask any TV programming executive and you will hear them say they are looking for content that audiences are drawn to. This is not to say these guys get a pass – after all, their blind spot has been their unwillingness to experiment with content that doesn’t look like old-school TV. That makes me wonder really HOW committed they are to meeting the demands of a sophisticated and fast-changing viewership. But I digress.

Let’s go to the watercooler for a second — that famed watercooler which has become extension of the shared entertainment experience we have alone or with personal friends in our private spaces – our home, or their homes. Then we seek to share and/or relive the “best of” moments when we engage with our work colleagues in a not so intimate environment called the workplace. Now with social networking in the workplace (and all the gear to make it possible even if the bosses don’t like it), the act of sharing entertainment is an activity that can be experienced not just with the folks you physically SEE in your office, but perhaps your buddies on the other floors, or a that rival company, or “friends” you added on Facebook one drunken night at a bar and now trade viral videos with. The range is wide and features feathers of every color: From long popular lo-fi gag photos LOLcats to Josh Groban singing Kanye West tweets and the occasional political moment that grabs the country’s attention such as the indefatigable Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders’ 8 1/2 hour speech, these exchanges connect us virtually and physically in laughter, outrage, mockery, sadness, wistfulness and all manner of diversionary emotion.

One thing is constant: every content creator wants a piece of the watercooler Holy Grail – the sticky phenomenon…the thing that gets people talking. Surely that’s why advertising, after suffering the fate of the mouse-click strove hard in 2010 to legitimately become part of that rainbow of emotion that is a valuable commodity in the marketplace. Occasionally it succeeded with campaigns like the Old Spice Guy. And it is perhaps what Hollywood tries to invent when it births a new franchise (or re-hashes an ancient one). But 2010 was also the year in which that fountain of “real entertainment” notoriously failed to create a marquee entertainment brand that had folks gathering around the water cooler.

So what exactly is it that we as a voraciously media consumptive society (at least in North America) are engaged by? A quick cobble-together yields a picture it that looks something like this: zombies (The Walking Dead), cats doing anything, famous people making fun of other famous people (Josh Groban/Kanye West), old people telling dirty jokes (Betty White), politics served with jokes (Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert), regular people saying what everyone thinks but doesn’t say (The Rent Is Too Damn High Party’s Jimmy McMillan). All these people engage us in ways that entertain and/or inform, often provoking or titillating the senses.

With so much competing for our eyeballs and minds, we are now in the habit of curating viscerally and without regard for the classification of content. Invariably, hybrids emerge, and a blurring between content forms begins to take hold. For example, the blurring of the line between so called “information” and “entertainment” is increasingly evident. Certainly, to some this signals the death of “real news” and journalism. Some others, like the very tabloid styled Huffington Post lose no sleep over this distinction and move forward into a future that seeks to engage, at any cost.

While I’m not arguing for the tabloid-ization of everything, and I value ideas and engagement that push the brain beyond titillation, there must be a way in which cross-pollination becomes an opportunity to re-think the way we see form. Forget about TV being on my Android. Who cares? We MUST think beyond platform and medium into content itself, and the audience that seeks out all the things we as media creators bring them – news, jokes, social change, stories in any and all forms.

We’ve already seen the result of a powerful hybrid news-entertainment personality in “fake news” guy Jon Stewart, whose laudable actions on behalf of the 9-11 Responders yielded real political and practical impact. I’m not sure Jon Stewart as a figure could have been considered America’s “most trusted newsman” in a pre-digital, pre-social media world. Of course there are some who consider comparisons between Stewart and Cronkite a travesty of epic proportions. While I myself might wait a few more years to crown Stewart, I think the reach of his work speaks for itself.

Onward, sans-idea boundaries, into 2011!

Sam Blackman, CEO of Elemental Technologies: Unlike other forms of media the Internet will not destroy the pay-TV model. Consumers want a high-quality video experience across platforms (mobile device, laptop, monitor). Consumers will demand quality and ease of use.

Doug Knopper, co-founder and co-CEO of FreeWheel: Consumers are getting closer to the type of content experience they want when it comes to video. Winners will be twofold in this world: those that create compelling content and those who can figure out how to build a business model around that content. Allowing the media companies the control and flexibility to manage and monetize their content will help content creators survive this transition.

Avner Ronen CEO and co-founder of Boxee: It may be the year of TV Everywhere, but the future is Internet Everywhere.   Storytelling will change. There are no limits on the length of a story, and viewers will be able to direct their viewing experience. One can also run parallel stories within a show. By 2015, there will be an Internet show that will be bigger than a TV show today. You will have more Apple subscribers than Comcast subscribe. People will watch more video and they will pay more for it.

Jeremy Reed, SVP Content and Editorial, Demand Media: Next big thing is trying to understand there is an imbalance between supply, need and cost. You need to understand the ROI before you greenlight content. Is it quality and relevant to a community? And increasing the competitiveness — in a search world is a social world.

And perhaps the MOST controversial was James Spare’s demo of “my TV is watching me” (watch demo close to the end of the video). Everyone screamed Big Brother!

James Spare, president and CEO of Canesta: We’ve invented technology that can track objects in 3-D space. The market for 3-D is huge. A new market is 3-D input, which can, for example, have a screen detect your motion and then be able to interact in a 3-D environment. (Shows video of TV watcher moving channels with hand wave gestures). This will give rise to a whole set of new capabilities.