Times Square is reflected in the Viacom logo on its headquarters in a New York in this Sept. 2, 2005, file photo. Viacom’s second-quarter profit jumped almost 52 percent Thursday, boosted by cost-cutting at its Paramount Pictures film studio and higher revenue from its cable channels.

New York ? Americans may be fond of the Web, but they are still in love with their TV sets — and so are the advertisers who want to reach them.

Big media companies are riding a rebound in TV ad spending. This week, Viacom Inc. and Time Warner Inc. both reported that their cable TV channels saw improvements in advertising revenue. CBS Corp. saw a similar rebound at its local television stations. News Corp. saw growth on both sides.

The companies’ results this week offer one encouraging data point for economic prognosticators. It means businesses have the money to spend on commercial time again. And they are more confident that consumers will have the money to respond to their ads at shopping malls and car dealerships.

Media executives say the rebound can keep rolling into 2011. That’s in part because prices for a large chunk of commercial time this year had already been locked in more than a year ago during the so-called “upfront” period, when advertisers bid on commercial time for the upcoming television season. Rates were down sharply then because of the recession.

After September, higher rates from this year’s upfronts should kick in and be reflected in company results.

“We completed a much stronger upfront than we experienced a year ago,” Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman said Thursday.

• Consumer demand boosts cable, satellite TV profits. Consumers are feeling more confident about spending on small luxuries such as premium cable services and pay-per-view, propelling the earnings of cable and satellite TV providers upward in the second quarter.

• Mortgage rates dip below 4% on 15-year loans. A plunge in mortgage rates is giving homeowners a rare opportunity to lock in a 15-year fixed-rate loan for less than 4 percent.

• Key Obama economic aide to resign. Christina Romer, one of President Barack Obama’s most pivotal economic advisers, is resigning Sept. 3, a change that comes as the White House struggles to show signs of clear economic gains to a hurting nation.