John Malone, chairman and controlling shareholder of Liberty Media Corp., said Friday that he expects "massive restructuring and consolidation in old media," but that change is unlikely - at this point - to include his company purchasing NBC Universal.

At the company's Investor Day, Malone said he was not in talks to buy NBCU, but that he had been approached by Goldman Sachs, an adviser to General Electric Co. (GE), which is in negotiations to surrender majority control of NBCU to Comcast Corp. (CMCSA, CMSCK).

Malone, a media mogul known for tough deal-making, said he'd consider buying NBC Universal at the right price, which he put at around seven times real cash flow, while the reported deal between GE and Comcast implies a value closer to 11 times.

Instead, Malone said he'll watch to see what happens as Comcast, the nation's largest cable provider, seeks an ownership stake in NBCU, which owns television networks, a major film studio and theme parks. He spoke of the value of combining the power of media distribution with the ability to create content, which he said has been "diminished by regulatory limitations."

If federal regulators allow Comcast to complete such a deal on attractive terms, Malone said "every major distributor will be looking at opportunities to go vertical and follow suit because it is a fairly straight-forward way to create value."

Liberty Media's meeting Friday came after a difficult year for the global economy that was particularly hard on media businesses, already grappling with a slowdown amid the rise of digital communications. In late 2008, Liberty Media suffered sharp declines in its three tracking stocks, which reflect the company's holdings in DirecTV, QVC and Starz Enertainment, among other properties. However, this year, the stocks have largely recovered after the company undertook a restructuring of its debt load.

"These are historic times in terms of technology finally changing what are profound lifetime experiences," Malone said. "The world is dramatically changing, and the question is how do each of our units adapt to that. What alliances, partnerships or investments should we be making to ride the wave instead of getting drowned by the wave?"

Malone's right-hand man, Liberty Media Chief Executive Greg Maffei, credited companies like Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Google Inc. (GOOG) for capitalizing on the tectonic shifts taking place in the media industry, but he said the Internet has destroyed more value in Corporate America than it has created.

"It's a handful [of companies] that have hit the home run versus the long tail of destruction," Maffei said. "For the most part, the consumer has really benefited from all this. Not the companies."

In the case of Liberty Media, Maffei acknowledged some mistakes but said the company has "avoided the most crazy media stupidities."

"Avoiding the pitfalls and the big dollar losses is really where we've succeeded," he said.

Liberty Media said its planned merger of DirecTV Group Inc. (DTV) with its majority holdings in the satellite TV provider, and other assets, remains on track to be completed soon. Analysts have speculated the transaction could pave the way for a sale of DirecTV to a telecommunications company, like AT&T Inc. (T).

On Friday, Malone said DirecTV will have a new chief executive "within the next month or two." Its former chief executive, Chase Carey, was recently hired as chief operating officer and vice chairman at News Corp. (NWS, NWSA), which publishes this newswire and The Wall Street Journal.

Malone said maintaining "a close and long-lasting relationship with the telcos is an important part of the CEO's job, whether that results in a transaction or an extension" of existing partnerships.

Meanwhile, Maffei predicted that Liberty Media's largest business, home-shopping network QVC, will show a rebound in its financial performance over the next year, noting that it faces "easy comps" in the second half of this year and the first half of next year.

"We will, I think, have the opportunity to shine on the top line and the bottom line with the opportunities to cut costs," Maffei said.

QVC has been a weak spot for Liberty Media amid a broad slowdown in consumer spending caused by the global financial crisis and recession. Its second-quarter revenue fell 4.4% to $1.68 billion, including a 2% drop in the U.S. Excluding items, operating income before depreciation and amortization fell 3.6%.

-By Nat Worden, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2472; nat.worden@dowjones.com