In a strange turn of events, Yahoo is launching a big effort with Current TV, which has until now partnered well with Google.
Current’s big chief, former Vice President Al Gore, is buddy-buddy with Google, which makes this all a bit of a surprise.
Anyway, TechCrunch explains the partnership. While Google got a sorta-branded news show on Current’s cable channel and website, Yahoo is hosting Current video on Yahoo Video, creating a cool portal for Current’s user generated TV content, divided into what amount to four internet TV channels. Basically, Yahoo gets some great user video, while Current does all the editorial overheard, resulting in a much higher class of video than you get at YouTube (i.e. – no crap).
Boing Boing has an interview with Al Gore explaining the partnership.
Amazing, it looks like Google Video lost out on some great exposure and content, probably because of development philosophies at Google. Google likes the big open marketplace, while Current found Yahoo more willing to go with their vision of specific channelized content, so Yahoo gets the deal. I’m willing to put money down that Google had a shot at getting all this on Google Video, and they either had the wrong idea or the wrong technology to seal the deal.
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Nathan Weinberg writes the popular InsideGoogle blog, offering the latest news and insights about Google and search engines.
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