Old media is slowly waking to see the potential of online video content. CBS is a good example of this. Back in October YouTube launched a channel for CBS that has developed into a successful partnership between old media and new media. CBS has uploaded close to 300 clips since November to YouTube. Around 15 million people have viewed the clips.
The networks having figured out the potential for advertising revenue now want to create their own YouTube. CBS, News Corp.’s Fox, Viacom Inc., NBC Universal are all reportedly in discussions concerning a jointly owned site that would feature video content from their networks.
According to the Wall Street Journal the network negotiations are in the early stages. An agreement between the companies is not likely any time soon.
If the networks were able to reach some type of an agreement succeeding at becoming the next YouTube would be questionable at best. In a blog post from hipmojo.com froosh writes,” YouTube succeeded, not because it stole content from media companies, but because regular users can upload what they wanted. In other words, if media companies were to upload all of their content online, it might not have succeeded because, well, the content media companies choose to release online SUCKS.”
If the major networks want to succeed by working together to create a viable site and compete with YouTube than they would do well to keep in mind that users are looking for a variety of choices when it comes to content.
Content and choices are the areas where YouTube will most likely always prevail over the networks and any future plans of a similar site.
Tag:
Add to 
Bookmark Murdok: 
Mike is a staff writer for Murdok. Visit Murdok for the latest ebusiness news.
