The setting: the bustling NBC Universal (NYSE: GE) booth in the Las Vegas Convention Center, a multi-million-dollar production complete with full-fledged television studio. Around the booth, areas that show off the various NBCU networks, their digital initiatives, HD. The hot handout: a bright red 2 gig SanDisk (NSDQ: SNDK) flash drive that can be plugged into a USB port at one of the numerous kiosks dotting the booth and used to store portable NBCU videos. Seated at one of the cafe tables is Beth Comstock, president of integrated media for NBCU. We’re about to start when a woman from the investment community walks up and asks when she’s going back to GE. I’m not, Comstock tells her. The woman likes the reply; Comstock is a rarity in the male-dominated digital world. Comstock’s used to the question; she has been the subject of rumors and speculation, as well as negative comments (usually anonymous), since Dec. 15, 2005, when she returned to NBCU from parent GE as president, NBCU digital and marketing, reporting to Bob Wright. She’s into her third year now — still in digital but more focused on advertising, development, investing and research — and reporting to Jeff Zucker. We spoke about that, iVillage, Hulu, integration, ad sales and more. Excerpts after the jump.
Presence at CES: “Hopefully it’s telling the story that we’re taking digital very seriously. We have a focus. What are we trying to do with our digital? We’re trying to extend our brands; it
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