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Mark Cuban Declares War on GooTube

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the settle-this-with-jello-wrestling dept.

PreacherTom writes "Mark Cuban — the billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks, tech entrepreneur, and self-proclaimed 'blog maverick' — has always been outspoken in his ridicule of Google and YouTube. Now, it appears he's willing to put his money where his mouth is. Cuban is so convinced that GooTube will be a failure that he is in the process of acquiring the news agency owned by Robert Tur, currently involved in serious litigation with Google over copyright violations. With billions on both sides, this could be a real clash of the titans."

12 of 295 comments (clear)

  1. Titans by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
    With billions on both sides, this could be a real clash of the titans.


    Yeah, it could be, but we're calling it "GooTube".
    1. Re:Titans by mikerich · · Score: 5, Funny
      GooTube or Yougle? Hmmm... that's a tough one.

      One sounds like a glue, the other a brand of European yogurt.

  2. Wait... by pionzypher · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The man is so convinced that google/youtube will fail, he's actually going to jump in the ring to try to make it happen? Umm... Someone should just give this guy a hobby.

    --
    I'll believe in corporations having personhood when Texas executes one... - advocate_one
    1. Re:Wait... by squiggleslash · · Score: 5, Funny

      "Ah, thanks for coming Mark. Glad to hear you've taken us over, we really admire whatever it is you're famous for. Anyway, just to let you know, we're close to reaching a settlement with Google. They're going to pay us seventy eight mill..."

      "Sorry to cut you off, but that's not going to happen. We're not settling. We're going to win this case."

      "But we are winning the case. This deal means we'll get..."

      "Sorry, not interested. We're going to fight this case, demand $699, or whatever that statatuory damages figure is, for every download of every video that YouTube has ever done that we can sue over."

      "But that'll drive Google bankrupt! We'll never get our money, and under this deal we'll end up getting more in the long run anyway because, as I was saying, they're going to, every year, pay us..."

      "Stop. Stop right now. I predicted Google are going to lose this. Lose they shall."

      "But wouldn't you prefer us both to win? I mean, we can make a fortune through this, if Google makes it a success."

      "No. Then I'd look like an idiot. People would point at me and say "There goes Mark Cuban, the guy who said Google was doomed by buying YouTube, and now has made billions by coming to an agreement that meant Google could make it work." I don't want that to happen. I have a reputation to keep. I'm a dot-com millionaire damn it."

      ...etc...

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    2. Re:Wait... by thePowerOfGrayskull · · Score: 5, Funny
      If I were sophisticated I would know the word in the English language that describes this kind of behaviour, but alas, I'll have to rely on a fellow slashdotter (once again...).
      I believe that the word you're looking for is "asshole".
  3. *Tsk Tsk* Have we learned nothing? by Dr.+Eggman · · Score: 5, Funny

    Whenever Godzilla and Mecha-Godzilla fight; it is Tokyo that suffers the most.

    --
    Demented But Determined.
  4. Only a moron would buy YouTube by burris · · Score: 5, Funny

    Just like the morons that bought broadcast.com

    1. Re:Only a moron would buy YouTube by dj_krztoff · · Score: 5, Funny

      So, what you're saying is ... you got the joke.

  5. Suing for profit is a moral stand? by ghostlibrary · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Okay, I'm puzzled. The EFF defending someone sued by, say, the RIAA, is to support the individual who is being overwhelmed by a large corporation due to a questionable law. And one could argue Cuban is just doing something similar-- supporting a lawsuit of an individual who feels a corporation has infringed on their rights in an area where the law is murky.

    However, supporting an individual's lawsuit, not because of the principal involved, but because you don't like them and think they're stupid, that's... well, childish. That's putting ego as more important than justice, and in theory, that's what the whole court system is supposed to prevent.

    Isn't this just a form of vigilante justice by Cuban? "I don't like 'em, so they're going down."

    --
    A.
  6. What a jerk. by Qwavel · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There are lots of people out there throwing the little bits of money they have at charities and other causes that they think will make the world a better place.

    Contrast with this guy.

  7. Just speculation but... by niola · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Mark Cuban made his money selling Broadcast.com to Yahoo, so is it possible he still has a stake in Yahoo and this is nothing more than a territorial piss and moan contest at the competition?

  8. The guy is ALL hobbies by alexhmit01 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The guy owns HD Net (and the sister channel, HD Net Movies). When nobody was doing HD Content, he got HD rights to minor college games and NHL games, and built a little network there. He also bought the right to do transfers of old shows. He's an active participant on AVS Forum, explaining what is going on in the HD world. The craziest thing, you could only get HD Net from DirecTV and a local Texas station for its first few years. He bought a local television station just to run HD Net OTA to prove that OTA HD was practical.

    When I met him very briefly (like 1 second) at CES some years back, watching him speak was amazing, not for what he said, but to hear the AWE from the representatives of companies like TI that were talking about how nobody did more for their industry than him.

    The man has loads of money, and is spending it to push things that he believes will make the world a better place. He also has an ego the size of Texas. He had is own show on HD Net (where he could be a big dork but have his players on), and HD Net's coverage of CES was interviewing him.

    The guy made a fortune selling broadcast.com at JUST the right time, and is now pushing technology the way he wants it, where a few gambles can make a difference. HD Net's sports coverage forced ESPN to adopt HD content before they wanted to, and DirecTV used HD Net to anchor HD programming when there was almost no programming. If it wasn't for him, the local affiliates would have gotten their dream of HD being a fig leaf to get public airwaves, where 1/6 of the channel space would carry normal 480i programming, and 5/6s be sold for data services, etc. Instead, HD Net helped force everyone's hand, and HD is here and real.

    The guy's hobby appears to be bending public will to his, and he does a good job of it. While these "investments" may not have been profitable in a traditional sense (I doubt that he loses money, but he probably isn't getting a better ROI than having plowed his money into the S&P 500), it seems to have made him happy. He owns a basketball team, and he has a television network that buys the rights to do HD Transfers of whatever shows he wants to watch in HD. While the rest of us are at the mercy of the marketing departments guessing what we want, he can go make it happen. That's a pretty cool hobby.

    Alex