New York is home to some of the biggest media companies in the country, like Condé Nast, The New York Times Co., News Corp., Hearst and Time Warner, just to name a few.

This year, those companies were imperiled, struggling to survive like many other companies around the world. But as print media disputed declarations that its days were numbered, these once-great companies that made their money from print pubs were fighting hard to keep their heads above water. In order to do that they made some decisions — like bringing in new investors, closing publications and selling them off. It was in no way a big year for media deals, but there were a few. Below, our list of the biggest business stories to come out of the New York media world this year.

Bloomberg LP Buys BusinessWeek

After seeking a buyer for BusinessWeek for most of the fall, publisher McGraw-Hill finally cut a deal with Bloomberg LP, which snapped up the magazine in October. The result? Bloomberg BusinessWeek, a new vision of the mag that has a new editor and a smaller staff.

After the jump, Carlos Slim invests in the Times, classical music and the Comcast-NBCU deal.

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With a blizzard keeping us from joining our families this weekend, and this year’s almost-total dissolution of media jobs and funds, is there anything we can sit down and be grateful for once we finally gather around the hearth this holiday?

The New York Times‘ resident media guru David Carr seems to think so. Not only did online news orgs come into their own this year — with Twitter becoming a powerful, if flawed, tool for politics and journalism; Gawker hiring real journos for full-time jobs with benefits; and TheWrap.com breaking the biggest media merger story of the year with the Comcast-NBC deal — but, as the columnist wrote, “…black moved a lot of units this year. Just try to imagine this past year in media without President Obama, Michael Jackson and Tiger Woods.”

Sure, maybe the last example isn’t the most positive example of an African American in the national spotlight, but Carr’s point is that 2009 may have been the first year the MSM has focused its eye on more than the goings-on of rich, white men. Small steps, but as the end of this year approaches, we’ll take what we can get.

Read More: After a Year of Ruin, Some Hope –New York Times

Previously: Gawker Offers Writers Full-Time Employment, It’s Official: Comcast Acquires NBCU Stake

It’s a Friday afternoon a few weeks before the end of the year, but that hasn’t stopped two New York-area papers from announcing moves at the tops of their mastheads.

The latest editor of The New York Observer, Kyle Pope, named Christopher Stewart the paper’s deputy editor, according to a memo obtained by Romenesko. The two formerly worked together at Portfolio magazine, where Pope was one of two top editors and Stewart was a contributing editor. Pope was named editor of Observer last month.

Also today, Long Island newspaper Newsday announced a changing of the guard atop its masthead, as managing editor and senior VP of digital media Debby Krenek (pictured) was picked to succeed editor-in-chief John Mancini, who resigned.

Cablevision-owned Newsday‘s former publisher Tim Knight, resigned in September, with Terry Jiminez, the publisher of amNY, which is also owned by Cablevision, stepping in to replace him.

Full release about Krenek, after the jump

Christopher Stewart named NYO deputy editor –Romenesko

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We called it.

Last week, when faced with two “Person of the Year” polls, we predicted that the “Twitter Guys,” Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone and Evan Williams, were a shoe-in to win I Want Media’s eighth annual Media Person of the Year online poll. Today, the site revealed the results of the poll, with the Twitter team indeed taking top honors. They join the ranks of past media people of the year like Arianna Huffington and 2007′s winner, “Writers On Strike.”

Dorsey, Stone and Williams managed to beat out other top vote-getters this year like Oprah Winfrey and Glenn Beck. And in addition to the top 10 that I Want Media nominated for the poll, there were also write-in candidates like Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, Rush Limbaugh and Nikki Finke, the site said.

We’ll still have to wait a few days to learn who Time magazine picked for their Person of the Year, and although it looked like the Twitter guys might win that competition, too, they weren’t included in the magazine’s recent online poll. But remember, Time magazine editors “reserve the right to disagree” and choose pretty much whoever they want anyway.

Previously: Tis The Season…For Person Of The Year Polls; Will Twitter Be Time‘s Person Of The Year?

Comcast-owned DailyCandy had some bad news for its staffers yesterday. On the same day that daily online newsletter publisher’s parent company announced the acquisition of a stake in NBC Universal, DailyCandy’s GM Beth Ellard told staffers that six full-time editors covering various markets across the country had been let go, according to a memo acquired by Gawker.

We confirmed that market editors in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Philadelphia, Seattle and Washington, D.C. had been let go. Miami is also losing its editor, Brooke Siegel, who is moving back to New York to work from DailyCandy HQ, along with promotions editor Dan Murphy. But that doesn’t mean the company is discontinuing distribution of its newsletters in those cities.

Starting next year, subscribers in these markets will receive “DailyCandy Everywhere” newsletters four times a week along with city-specific events-focused newsletters on Thursday — called “The Weekend Guide” — and Sunday. The Sunday letter will be a new addition to the DailyCandy family that we hear the company is close to announcing soon. To maintain this popular events coverage, DailyCandy will be maintaining contributing editors in these markets, which may end up being the editors who were just let go.

Meanwhile, newsletters in DailyCandy’s five other markets, New York, Chicago, London, Los Angeles and San Francisco, will continue to get city-focused newsletters five days a week as well as, presumably, the Sunday edition when it launches.

Read more: DailyCandy Sours on Most of Its Cities –Gawker

DailyCandy Cutting Back Local Editions

Previously: DailyCandy Tries E-Commerce With Swirl

Well the big media deal that has been much talked about all fall has finally been officially announced.

This morning, Comcast and General Electric announced that they are entering a joint venture that will include NBC Universal — valued at $30 billion — as well as Comcast’s cable nets, including E!, Versus and the Golf Channel, and its regional sports networks, among other Comcast assets — with a value of $7.25 billion. Comcast will now own 51 percent of the new venture, after paying $6.5 billion to GE in cash.

Now, the deal heads to the regulators for approval, and all media watchers are looking forward to see how the government handles the first big media deal under the Obama administration. The New York Times has gotten its hands on a memo sent today from NBCU CEO Jeff Zucker to his staff. Zucker has been put in charge of the new venture, and he will be reporting to Comcast’s COO. Said Zucker:

“We expect regulatory approvals to take 9 to 12 months. So, for now, it remains business as usual. And in fact, I expect this will be the case for the vast majority of you even after the deal closes. NBC Universal will continue to be, first and foremost, a world-class content company.”

After the jump, GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt and Comcast CEO Brian Roberts in their first post-deal interview on CNBC this morning, in which they talk about their reasons behind seeking the deal, the future of their joint venture and what they think about the upcoming regulator approval process.

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Several news outlets reported last night that General Electric had reached an agreement with Vivendi to buy the remaining stake in NBC Universal that it did not yet own. This long-expected agreement now paves the way for Comcast to step in and pick up a controlling interested in NBCU from GE.

Our sister blog TVNewser has a run down of some of the coverage on the deal. Among the highlights:

- GE will reportedly buy Vivendi’s 20 percent stake in NBCU for about $5.8 billion.

- An agreement was reached after its GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt went to Paris for face-to-face negotiations with Vivendi’s CEO Jean-Bernard Levy last week.

- The 51 percent stake in NBCU that Comcast has been eying is valued at about $30 billion

- If the GE-Comcast deal doesn’t close by the end of next year, GE has agreed to pay Vivendi an additional $2 billion.

Read more: General Electric, Vivendi Agree On NBCU Stake, Paving Way for Comcast Deal –TVNewser

Previously: Zucker To Lead Comcast-NBCU Venture

New York Post: The New York Daily News has lost two top editors, executive editor, David Ng and the deputy city editor Marilyn Matlick.

Connecticut Post: The Fairfield University independent student paper that published an offensive column earlier this year now faces harassment charges before the Connecticut school’s Student Conduct Board.

Talking Biz News: CNBC‘s Maria Bartiromo‘s BusinessWeek column will not be making the move to the Bloomberg-owned version of the magazine.

paidContent: Forbes Media bought photo publishing and online distribution platform FlipGloss.

New York Times: A profile of Comcast CEO Brian L. Roberts, who is currently negotiating a deal to buy a majority stake in NBC Universal.

When Chase Carey speaks, the media world listens. And rightfully so. As Rupert Murdoch‘s number two, News Corp.‘s COO’s opinions do have a certain amount of clout.

This morning, at the Media and Money Conference, hosted by Nielsen and Dow Jones, Carey spoke about a number of topics — from Comcast seeking majority ownership of NBC Universal to the future of network television to pay walls for online journalism.

Carey said he thought the NBCU deal “makes sense for Comcast,” adding that it is a “pretty smartly structured deal” for the company. He also seemed pretty excited about the fact that the deal would test the regulatory waters under the new administration, perhaps setting the stage for or heading off other deals in the future. “These are uncharted waters with major issues with two big companies,” he said.

Carey seemed positive that the major players involved would be left with “regulatory baggage” after the deal was completed, although he doubted any assets would have to be sold.

As for pay walls, which News Corp.-owned Wall Street Journal has excelled at and Murdoch has pushed to extend across all his brands, Carey emphasized consistency. He said he was interested in “creating a great experience around content itself,” adding that people will pay for value and a good experience. “Quality journalism has value,” he said.

Later, when a reporter quizzed him about Murdoch’s plans to take his sites off Google and the Journal‘s leaky wall, Carey said he wanted the pay wall to remain consistent — if only subscribers can access certain content on WSJ.com, then others shouldn’t get it for free. But, there is some content you can get for free on the site, Carey pointed out. He didn’t outline any plans for creating the consistency he championed.

More from the Media and Money Conference, after the jump

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If Comcast ends up with a controlling interest in General Electric-owned NBC Universal, it looks like NBCU CEO Jeff Zucker will be staying on to lead the new venture.

Reuters reports, citing unnamed sources:

“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…There has been a lot of speculation about who would head the new company, especially since Peter Chernin — the former president of News Corp. — 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. Discussions about what the new board would look like are ongoing, the sources said.”

Comcast has been in talks to purchase a controlling interest in NBCU for a number of weeks, and a deal is expected to be announced soon. By keeping Zucker on, it looks like Comcast is putting its faith in him. But can NBC’s recent ratings challenges all be chalked up to the the recently departed Ben Silverman?

Zucker to head new NBCU-Comcast venture — sources –Reuters

Earlier: Comcast Purchase of NBCU Stake A Done Deal?

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