My Foolish friends almost certainly have noticed that making money in media stocks has become tough sledding. Indeed, for some members of the sector -- New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT), for instance -- the sled will only pick up speed as it cascades downhill.

But for other major media companies -- such as Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) and News Corp. (Nasdaq: NWS) -- I'm willing to stick my neck out and urge Fools to examine the companies carefully. My particular bet is that Comcast, as it moves closer to taking control of General Electric's (NYSE: GE) NBC Universal, will increasingly demonstrate how it can portend good things for Foolish portfolios.

Before going further, let me note that there are already major managerial changes afoot within the soon-to-be combined companies. It was announced Friday that Jeff Zucker, longtime head of NBC Universal, will leave his post once the combination occurs. Comcast Chief Operating Officer Steve Burke, who during the 1990s was president of Disney's (NYSE: DIS) ABC Broadcasting, will be at the helm of the combined organization.

During the decade-plus that I've watched Comcast closely, managerial quality -- including that provided by CEO Brian Roberts, Burke, etc. -- has been the company's stock in trade. With Comcast already serving the country's biggest group of subscription TV customers, its 51% ownership of the new combination will add the NBC network, numerous cable outlets, theme parks, and a movie studio. The Comcast team should be able to make shareholders smile with that massive array of assets.

Friday, it turns out, was a busy day all around for the world of NBC Universal. It seems it also was the day it inked a deal with Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX), through which Netflix members will be able to stream a portion of NBC's TV shows. Included, thankfully, will be all episodes of Saturday Night Live, a program that -- in my rarely humble opinion -- has been on the same slope as New York Times in recent years.

Finally, regarding Zucker's departure, most business scribes covering the change have spent the better part of their efforts analyzing what he did or didn't do correctly at NBC Universal. But he'll be gone soon, and so a managerial retrospective really doesn't matter. I'd far rather focus on the new lease on life that Burke will likely provide to the Comcast-NBC Universal matchup.