This time next week Beth Comstock will be reporting to work as SVP and CMO of GE, not president of integrated media for NBC Universal (NYSE: GE). Comstock, announced today as GE SVP & CMO, knew when she got on the phone with me today that her assurance in early January about not going back to GE was bound to come up: “At that point, it was still something we were talking about as out in the future ... In the past month, we started talking about it with a specific target date.” She said she always expected to go back to GE eventually: “When you’re in the GE cycle you sort of expect [it] after being in a job a couple of years.”

Some excerpts from our conversation, her first interview on the change:

Why now?: “I think it made sense, we didn’t want to wait too long into the year.” Comstock said it wasn’t related to the recent arrival of Salil Mehta, president of business operations, strategy and development, whose tenure at NBCU was delayed because of contractual obligations to Disney (NYSE: DIS). Mehta’s portfolio now includes digital.

Zucker competitor?: Much has been made about the notion of Comstock being sent to NBCU as a possible competitor with Jeff Zucker for NBCU CEO. Comstock dismisses the idea, saying Jeff Immelt sent her to NBCU two and a-half years ago because she’s “good at change and good at seeing news business opportunities.”

NBCU Digital: “I think we’ve changed the mindset here ... that’s what I came here to do.” Comstock came back to NBCU—she went to GE from the network—as president of digital, a dramatic move meant to show Immelt’s interest in NBCU’s digital progress and then-CEO Bob Wright’s commitment to digital.  (The previous GE exec brought in, Deborah Reif, lasted only months and had very little to show for it when she returned to GE.) “We needed to create some momentum. At the end of the day, digital has to be everybody’s job ... We see that happening.” Comstock hired George Kliavkoff as chief digital officer; he now will report to Salil Mehta. Asked about Kliavkoff’s role, Comstock said: “The company is incredibly proud of George and we think he’s incredibly important for our digital efforts going forward.” (Then again, as we’ve seen all too often, words of praise don’t always translate, especially when you start reporting to an exec that didn’t hire you. Proof, pudding, and all that. Update: This line elicited a call from an NBCU spokesperson, stressing that Kliavkoff’s job is solid and that he is “highly valued.” Sources also tell me that Mehta met with Kliavkoff’s team today with much the same value message.)

iVillage: Comstock: “We spent 18 months restructuring leadership, technology… getting it to the point where it’s going to continue to move forward.” She said the company knew going in that iVillage needed a tech overhaul but not the the leadership changes. (iVillage is in the midst of laying off 10 percent of its staff.) As for moving it to Jeff Gaspin at the Universal TV Group (an interim move for now), Comstock said uniting Bravo, Oxygen and iVillage “as one operating group is very smart, makes a tremendous amount of sense.” She has taken a lot of heat for the $600 million 2006 purchase, including the failure so far to convert some of the expected synergy with television. She says what most people miss what iVillage brought to NBCU is terms of showing how digital could make money. “It added a level of sophistication and a foundation to prove that digital could make money.”

Women’s ad net: Plans for a virtual women’s ad net with Bravo Media, Oxygen Media and iVillage have been underway for months. Mike Pilot, president of sales, “will ultimately have responsibility for it. ... We’ve spent the past four months organizing, getting the various people aligned, some of the back-room work has been done.”

Health initiatives: Comstock said GE’s digital consumer health initiative doesn’t involve acquisitions “at this point” or investments beyond the obvious—the iVillage acquisition, the recent participation in Healthline’s $21 million round, the various advertising investments. The consumer effort with GE Health Care and others centers on patient education.

Peacock Fund: Comstock doesn’t expect to remain involved in the Peacock Equity Fund.

Going forward, not back: Comstock describes the appointment as “a very big vote of confidence” from GE Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Immelt. The CMO part of the title is the same but the responsibilities are broader and the SVP is new.

• Beth Comstock Out At NBCU; Back To GE As SVP, CMO; Changes At NBCU
• Changes At NBCU In Concert With Comstock’s Departure; More On Virtual Women’s Network