Last we heard from sources on Madison Avenue, Google's TV advertising business was a joke. Only 200 clients had signed up for it in almost a year. Its ad targeting tech, unlike Google's sophisticated Web ads, judges whether or not an ad is relevant based on whether viewers click away while it plays, even though Google itself says 96 to 97 percent of the audience stays tuned in to a channel no matter what ad plays. So why did NBC today announce it would let Google play middleman for its cable networks, which include Sci-Fi, Bravo, Oxygen, MSNBC and CNBC?Easy: Google TV exec and Michael Steib used to work for NBC. Leaning on old colleagues is one of his favorite tactics for getting ahead, Steib told Crain's when the magazine named him to its list of "Forty under 40":

The other thing that for me personally has been a real asset is I have a network of friends and colleagues and former colleagues and current and past bosses and mentors who I can really rely on.

Rely on, that is, for a face-saving deal which doesn't include the real prize: Brokering ads on NBC's fading but still large broadcast network.