The content conundrum would be less of an albatross for all traditional media seeking digital footing if the players reconciled a few basic truths.

To make the most of combined assets, Steve Burke will need to reinvent -- not simply integrate -- portions of NBC Universal and Comcast when the entities merge. He also has a chance to rejuvenate the content and ad businesses.

Creativity, innovation and the ability to embrace new perspectives have become scarce in Hollywood, corporate board rooms and classrooms. We need more Steve Jobs, those able to act as a positive catalyst for change.

We are fast approaching the tipping point where content creation, aggregation and distribution economics will be dramatically altered, if not displaced, by Internet bypass alternatives.

Comcast's proposed takeover of NBC Universal is the first mega media merger attempted with the digital interactive revolution in full swing. Opponents seeking to restrain such a powerful new player underestimate two critical factors: The rapid changes afoot will likely compromise any restrictions and dramatically alter Comcast's core triple-play cable business.

The titans who make it possible to access unlimited music, video and text on a postage stamp-sized player or a sleek iPad are rapidly shifting away from costly legacy structures and business models. They prefer to spend time in the cloud, where services, software and content are delivered via the Internet

The big question for anyone in television is how to get in front of - rather than be trampled by - the onslaught of seminal change coming from a multitude of places. This year's fall television season unfolds against consumer indifference as to where they access network fare.

In one swoop last week, Facebook made itself digital media's de facto location-based platform by launching its new Places feature in partnership with -- and maybe at the expense of -- FourSquare, Booyha and Gowalla, all burgeoning players in the space.

Walt Disney's latest quarterly earnings may be the best among its big media peers, but there are moves it should make if it wants to turn its recovery into a growth story -- even as poor and uncertain economic conditions prevail.

Valuing disrupted media is a sobering and challenging task that will continue complicating mergers and acquisitions for years, even in a recovering economy.