The two sides have been in talks to reach a deal that would give Comcast a 51 percent stake in the NBC Universal venture, which would also house the cable networks now belonging to Comcast. They recently agreed to value NBC Universal at about $30 billion, sources previously told Reuters.

Under the terms being discussed, Zucker will lead the new entity, with no clauses for him to leave after a specific period, the sources said on Tuesday. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the details have not been made public.

As part of the proposal, NBC Universal would become a joint venture, 51 percent owned by Comcast and 49 percent by GE. Comcast would contribute around $4 billion to $6 billion in cash, as well as its collection of cable networks to pay for its stake.

There has been a lot of speculation about who will head the new company, especially since Peter Chernin — the former president of News Corp (NWSA.O) — has been advising Comcast.

The sources said Zucker would be chief executive, but no decisions had been made on what role Chernin might play, if any.

GE, which currently owns 80 percent of NBC Universal, would keep the other 49 percent and contribute about $12 billion in debt to the new entity, according to the paper. The paper added that GE is likely to eventually sell its ownership interest in NBC Universal over several years.

Michael J. de la Merced and Andrew Ross Sorkin reported for the NY Times:

General Electric and the cable giant Comcast have moved closer to a deal giving control of NBC Universal to Comcast, and a formal announcement could be made sometime next week, people briefed on the talks said Sunday.

After a series of meetings last week, the two companies reached a tentative agreement on Friday over the main points of a deal, these people said. Comcast would own about 51 percent of NBC Universal, contributing several billions of dollars in cash and its own stable of cable networks to the new venture.

G.E., which currently owns 80 percent of the entertainment company, would retain the other 49 percent and would contribute about $12 billion in debt to the new entity, though it is expected eventually to sell its ownership interest over several years.

Talks with Vivendi SA, which has to agree to sell its 20 percent stake in NBC Universal, for the deal to happen, are centered around reaching an acceptable valuation of the entertainment company, the people told the paper.

Before the speculation as to what this means gets out of hand, it’s worth bringing up one key data point: both of Chernin’s top deputies, Katherine Pope and Dylan Clark, are former NBC/Uni execs.

As Gawker’s Richard Rushfield put it, Chernin’s advisory role puts two major questions in Hollywood on a collision course: “Who’s going to take over NBC/Universal and what’s going to happen to ex-Fox chief Peter Chernin?” Media Decoder speculates:

News of Mr. Chernin’s involvement is likely to put more pressure on Jeff Zucker, the chief executive of NBC Universal, who is fighting fires on several fronts. In addition to the question marks surrounding his future at the company in the event of a change in ownership, he has also faced recent management upheaval at Universal Studios, a primetime lineup mired in fourth place and questions about the success or failure of the recent experiment of placing Jay Leno in primetime.

But the involvement of Pope and Clark complicates theories that this is merely a Cheneyite setup for Chernin to take the helm after advising the process. Pope is the former head of NBC Studios; Deadline’s Nikki Finke frequently holds her up as a scapegoat unfairly sacrificed by Zucker. Clark, considered by many to be the former heir apparent at Universal, joined forces with Chernin in June.

Industry experts agree that Peter Chernin has the best possible development deal for Fox. Before the conspiracy theories about his consultancy for Comcast spin out of control, pundits should consider the simplest: he’s a knowledgeable old hand with some of the people most knowledgeable about NBC/Uni reporting to him directly.

The relative frenzy about the publishing giant’s future was started by the following Reuter’s item:

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Time Warner Inc will eventually sell the Time Inc magazine unit and could buy holdings in its core entertainment category, Gordon Crawford, managing director of its largest shareholder, said during a presentation this week.

“Time Warner just spun off their cable division, they are going to sell their print division, they are going to spin off AOL and they’re just going to be Warner Brothers, HBO and the Turner Networks,” said Crawford, managing director of The Capital Group.

This spawned an enormous headline on the media section on Huffington Post (though in fairness to them, it was a rather slow weekend for news) as well as numerous posts on news and media aggregating websites.

It also lead to a lot of wanton and uninformed speculation about Time Inc.’s future. Perhaps the most ridiculous analysis came from Peter Kafka at AllThingsDigital. Writing in his “Media Memo” column he published a post entitled “Time Warner Dumping Its Magazines? Not So Fast,” which offered this gem on why they aren’t selling:

Time Warner won’t comment, but I’m sure the company has heard Crawford make this prediction before. His Capital Research Global Investors owns more than eight percent of Time Warner shares, which means he gets plenty of access to Bewkes and his lieutenants.

But here’s the thing: The body language from Time Warner executives in recent months makes me think they intend to keep at least part of their magazine business in the family. More than body language, actually: “Time Warner without People? I can’t imagine it,” one well-placed Time Warner official told me recently.

Kafka redeems himself by correctly pointing out that while Time Inc.’s annual revenue may be significantly less than last year, its still a very profitable unit that earns TW millions a year.

>>>NEXT: Video of Crawford’s talk