When former GE chairman Jack Welch declares shareholder value "a dumb idea" and P/E ratios drop to zero, it is time for companies to reassess how they define and create value. TV and newspapers must replace outmoded business models or die trying. Here's the key: innovate.

Big media will never be the same again, but some of the survivors are becoming more apparent. For the conglomerates ensconced in broadcast television, some industry analysts are casting their financial bets: Disney/ABC wins, CBS loses, NBCU gets flipped and News Corp./Fox is up for grabs.

Local news, interests and connections between consumers and advertisers is at the heart of both the failing traditional media saddled with legacy costs and the nimble Web-based contenders. The value of all things local has been woefully underestimated. Ultimately, what's needed is a ubiquitous interactive interface to facilitate access and monetization cross-platform.

Anyone expecting television advertising--including network upfront spending that could decline more than 15%--to rebound to former levels is in serious denial of the deep-set economic changes underway. Advertising is not going away, but its economics are changing. Networks need new value-creating options.

All video-related media players should be scrutinizing the sustainability of their business models painfully challenged by digital and economic retrenchment. It's time to take stock: You know your business model is in trouble when ...

The explosion of Netflix's unlimited, flat-fee instant home video demonstrates how rapidly a recession can transform a living room TV into a digital hub that threatens big guns like Blockbuster, cable and other pay services. Conventional distributors, it's time to worry.

A jaw-dropping plunge in 2009 revenue and earnings forecasts is prompting television broadcasters to brace for the permanent loss of business to digital and economic change. It's time to get pro-active.

Interactivity that gives consumers more of what they want and are willing to pay for is the plum growth catalyst that eludes many companies--even as broadband is burgeoning as a global lifeline for critical communications and entertainment.

Media companies adrift in the digital transition and pounded by the recession are embracing new strategies--but they are not backed by the innovative core changes needed to permanently resolve broken business models and declining revenues. Companies shortchange digital at their own peril.

The thorny issues of resetting asset values and reinventing media economics in an emerging digital marketplace will persist long after a recessionary recovery is underway. The shift is toward digital deals, both in numbers and value.