NBCU, News Corp. Team to Launch YouTube-Rival

Free, ad-supported online video site due this summer—Heroes, 24, Borat on deck

Photo Credit: Mathew Imaging

Full-length episodes of My Name is Earl (cast above) will reportedly be available free to web viewers when News Corp. and NBCU rolls out their not-yet-named YouTube rival. Pictured above: Earl cast members Jaime Pressly, Jason Lee, Ethan Suplee, Nadine Velazquez and Eddie Steeples at the Television Academy's Goldenson Theatre.

News Corp. and NBC Universal trumpeted plans today to launch a new online video site together—a YouTube rival, featuring such prime, full-length television programs as Heroes, 24 and My Name is Earl and feature movies like Borat and Devil Wears Prada. 

Touted by News Corp. president and COO Peter Chernin as "a game changer for Internet video," the not-yet-named web destination is reportedly scheduled to launch this summer. George Kliavkoff, NBC Universal's chief digital officer, is currently steering the venture.

Onliners AOL, MSN and Yahoo! have partnered with the studios to develop a free, advertiser-supported model. General Motors, Intel, Cadbury Schweppes, Cisco and others, Television Week says, are already on board.

Today's announcement ends long speculation that conventional media giants—many publicly frustrated with YouTube's dominance with online viewers, copyright and content control issues and deal negotiations at an impasse—were still mulling over the creation of their own video portal. In 2006, CBS, Viacom, News Corp. and NBC Universal fruitlessly attempted to launch a YouTube challenger.

As more organic, user-generated or uploaded video seemingly drives the current web market, this NBCU-News Corp. venture may pan out more as a shiny, YouTube alternative, rather than a "YouTube killer" as some expectantly tag the forthcoming site.  That is, unless reports that partners will grant users rights to "remix" and "mash-up" content actually materialize, along with an engaging, easy-as-YouTube interface and social network component.

In the meantime, ABC, NBC and most networks keep upgrading their dot-coms with crisper video and more user features. YouTube's web traffic, however, still outpaces that of all major and smaller networks combined—despite its compliance with content removal demands from media behemoth Viacom, who also hit the Google-owned company with a billion-dollar copyright-infringement suit and holds MTV Networks' iFilm.com under its umbrella.

J. Bolden