NBC, News Corp., CBS, and Viacom are all in talks to take out the grand champion YouTube, by creating a competing site in which they get all the profits. They’ve got plenty of content in their archives, so it would be relatively easy to do. It would be kind of like… IPTV now wouldn’t it?
So the real question is, will this work? Will people really be driven away from YouTube because a few networks are teaming up to start another site? I say absolutely not. The site may become SEMI-popular, but won’t have the Indie feel that YouTube does. But I’m going to say they’re not aiming for the YouTubers. They would be aiming for people that want FULL-LENGTH TV shows and don’t want to go to iTunes and shell out cash. If they provide TV shows for free with commercials, I’ll probably get on over there and watch me some shows I’ve missed. It all sounds great in theory, but lets be honest, they’re quite a bit more greedy than that.
According to the New York Times, issues are also likely to pop up due to the networks’ differing agendas.
But each partner in the proposed YouTube competitor brings its own agendas and potential conflicts. For instance, the News Corporation also owns both the Fox television network and the popular MySpace social networking Web site.
I agree with Doug Berger, I really don't think that that the giant broadcasting companies can take over you tube. The main difference is that YouTube is innovative. Posting normal TV shows on the net really isn't. It's just…watching TV, the same old thing as we always had with annoying commercials. The added convenience of being able to watch it on-demand may be a plus. But I have a feeling it's gonna be closer to what launch.com is where the video is streaming.