It's not odd at all for a media company to plug its properties on others. So there's nothing inherently surprising in video ads for Comedy Central's "Indecision 2008" appearing on political blog Talking Points Memo. Unless, that is, you're aware of the troublesome legal history between Viacom, the ad's purchaser, and Google, the company which placed the ad on Talking Points.

Viacom and Google, last year, had agreed to experiment with distributing videos on Google's AdSense network, the system that Talking Points and other blogs use to carry ads. That trial, a Google spokesman told me earlier this year, had run its course and wasn't renewed — unsurprising, as Google and Viacom revved up legal hostilities over charges of copyright infringement on Google's YouTube video site. That raises the question: Is this a one-off ad placement — or a sign of detente between the online-video powers.