The Peacock is switching owners. GE has agreed to sell Comcast a 51 percent stake in NBC Universal, creating a joint media venture that will be managed by Comcast.

The move is significant since GE has owned NBC for 23 years, not counting that period in the 1920s. It’s also indicative of the broadcast media shift that has been gaining momentum over the last few years.

With TiVo, an insatiable appetite for constant access to content, and a desire for control of that content, consumers are no longer a captive audience for broadcast networks’ most lucrative “programming”: commercials. In that situation, it’s hard for networks to compete with the monthly subscription fees brought in by the cable and satellite TV providers.

More specifics on the new joint entertainment venture are provided here. No doubt we’ll be seeing more multiplatform media deals in the coming months.

Another change we may see is in the number of GE-related jokes on the show “30 Rock.”