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TV Networks Discussing YouTube Rival

Posted by Zonk on from the hard-to-get-that-right dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Reuters is carrying a story indicating that NBC, CBS, Fox, and Viacom are considering banding together to work on a competitive video-hosting site. The goal would be to provide an alternative to Google's YouTube, and presumably direct some revenue in their direction." From the article: "While a deal is still far off, the four media companies envision a jointly owned site that would be the primary Web source for videos from their television networks, the paper said in an online report on Wsj.com, citing people close to the situation. The companies aim to cash in on the fast-growing market of Web video advertising and have also discussed building a Web video player that could play clips, the Journal said. "

3 of 72 comments (clear)

  1. Whatever by Kiba+Ruby · · Score: 3, Insightful

    And they are going to use DRM. Wow...such a compelling service...NOT!

    --
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    1. Re:Whatever by Salvance · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Plus, they'll make us watch a 20 second commercial before the video, and 12 30 second commercials during the sitcom. How fun.

      If the networks were smart, they'd encourage viewers to submit good/funny clips from their top shows to Youtube and other video channels. CBS realized the value of posting online with their CBS YouTube channel, which helped to increase TV viewership as well.

      Internet viewers want to quickly scan 100's of videos to find what works, most don't want to sit down in front of their 17 in monitor in the office and watch TV sitcoms with the family. The advertising model that works for TV just doesn't work on the internet, and networks won't understand this. For now, they should ditch their idea and use the internet to drive traffic to their TV shows, which has huge potential (the only reason I watch The Office is because I saw clips online first).

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  2. Competitive? by DragonWriter · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Reuters is carrying a story indicating that NBC, CBS, Fox, and Viacom are considering banding together to work on a competitive video-hosting site.


    Uh, so just about the entire US broadcast industry is banding together to distribute content through a joint venture. I think the word you want is "anti-competitive", not "competitive".