A glimmer of prosperity ahead: at TVB confab, something unusual; Optimism about the advertising...

What's this? Optimism about the economy? Signs are still mixed, but people in the TV business are starting to get the sense that a recovery may be near. Just how near is uncertain, but, at a New York confab last week, the consensus was that the ad recession might be history a little before the year is over.

Clearly, business people are groping for answers about the economy in all sectors, a fact that helps explain the overflow attendance at last week's Television Bureau of Advertising Conference. For the first time, TVB held its annual gathering in New York in conjuncti