(By Bob Blandeburgo) With a possible buyout of General Electric Co.'s (NYSE: GE) NBC Universal Inc. in the works, Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA) is adapting to a changing technological landscape.

Comcast, the United States' largest cable television provider, is hoping to avoid becoming the next newspaper or record company by expanding its role from an entertainment medium to a content provider.

"The world of cable delivery is about to change," Forrester Research (Nasdaq: FORR) analyst James McQuivey told the Los Angeles Times. "Cable companies for years have made their living by selling consumers hundreds of television channels bundled together. But the future is going to be very different, and cable companies instead will be selling an ‘entertainment experience.'"

While Comcast is now a major player in the Internet service provider (ISP) business as well as telephone service, more than half of its revenue comes from its cable TV customers. But factors working against Comcast include:

• More Competition: No longer limited to satellite TV providers, telephone companies continue to widen their reach through fiber-optic cable.
• Higher fees for content: The fees Comcast pays for programs from TV networks are on the rise.

The likely Comcast-NBC deal would give the cable provider a 51% stake in NBC, while GE would retain a 49% stake and contribute roughly $12 billion in debt to the new company, according to The New York Times. GE would eventually sell its ownership interest over a period of several years.