Last week, NBC Universal (NYSE: GE) cut some 500 jobs as part of CEO Jeff Zucker’s campaign to slash $500 million from operating costs for 2009. Today Zucker made it clear that his pragmatic approach applies to spending in the M&A side. While others talk about possible opportunities, Zucker told analysts and investors at the 36th Annual UBS Global Media and Communications Conference that the next 18 months will be the flip side of the heavy-spending last 18 for NBCU: “We are in a safety-first environment ... let’s be prudent, let’s be smart. ... Let’s make sure we’re running the business properly. ... There will be opportunities down the road and when those opportunities emerge we will be there.” That includes digital and international, both a major part of NBCU’s long-term plans. Instead, the focus will be on integrating acquisitions. Coming back to the subject later, Zucker added, ” In the 18 months prior to September, I don’t think there was any major media company more active in M&A.” As for pulling back now, “I don’t think that says anything about us more than it says about anybody. We’re in a different time. We’ve got our portfolio.” (I asked Zucker after the session if he had any spending range this for acquisitions—for instance, $50 million dollars might be ok even though nine figures is out. He said no. He also said the company is likely to do more partnerships.) More after the jump

—Digital advertising: Zucker was frank: “‘Digital is not going to be the big growth engine people thought it was going to be for 2009 ... It’s still going to be big.
... The most surprising thing is how fast the digital advertising market has come to a standstill.” He said the scatter market for digital “has dried up” and that even high-end video has slowed down.

—Safety first: Back to pragmatism. Zucker talked about the need to fix the local TV business now: “We don’t want to end up like the newspaper companies or even the auto companies.” He added: “We’ve got to change those models. The infrastructures at those stations was built 20-30 years ago.”

—Mobile: Asked from the audience about NBCU’s mobile strategy, Zucker replied: “It is going to be an opportunity in the years to come but it has not exploded the way we thought it would. ... We certainly are in this part of the industry. We certainly are playing in it but it’s not a game changer yet; hopefully it will be.”

—Evolving from broadcast to cable: Zucker began his presentation by listing NBCU’s various businesses and a promotion of their value. He saved the description as a broadcaster for last—behind theme parks. Zucker then sought to refocus the audience’s view of NBCU not as broacaster, but as a cable company. As Zucker pointed out at least twice in the first few minutes of his presentation, cable supplies 60 percent of the company’s revenues. In contrast, of the major networks, Zucker said, all but one are seeing ratings down in double digits. Conversely, the cable part of the business will grow by double digits,” even in the face of the toughest economy in our lifetimes,” Zucker said.“We’re trying to change the broadcast model. You have to have a steel stomach to do something of these changes. But I do feel strongly about the growth of the media industry. Just six years ago, the company was 90 percent reliant on advertising—today it’s more like 50 percent.”