Login or Register

Forgot?
I'm new, register me!

What is OmniNerd?

100% of OmniNerd's content is generated by you, the reader. OmniNerd allows content of all sorts and highlights the nerdiest of what's around.

Want to know more? Check out our welcome page, or simply register and have a first-hand look.

Submit New Content

Voting Booth

Been a victim of a violent crime?

View Results, All Polls
60 votes, 4 comments
0
Nerd-Its
+ -

NBC Partners With AOL, MSN, MySpace and Yahoo To Create YouTube Killer

Newspaper current event by tomtolman on 22 March 2007, tagged as internetnetworking and business

The battle for the Internet video market keeps getting hotter. Two weeks ago Viacom sued YouTube for $1 billion claiming massive copyright infringement. Now, NBC Universal and News Corp. have announced a partnership with AOL, MSN, MySpace And Yahoo! to create an online video site. According to the press release the site will contain "full episodes and clips from current hit shows, including Heroes, 24, House, My Name Is Earl, Saturday Night Live, Friday Night Lights, The Riches, 30 Rock, The Simpsons, The Tonight Show, Prison Break, Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader and Top Chef." Peter Levinsohn, President of Fox Interactive Media feels that the partnerships will be key to the new site's success, “By delivering the new site’s content to our more than 65 million users, we can build on MySpace’s position as a leading destination for online video, and enable content creators to tap into the power of social networking.” There is no word when the site will be launched. Michael Arrington of Techcrunch is skeptical, "I think this will get a crazy amount of attention, then probably launch very late. Joint ventures are notoriously difficult to manage, and adding third party distribution partners to the mix will add complexity."

Favorite
[Show/Hide] [Reply]   0 Nerd-Its - + Favorite
No YouTube Killer by tomtolman :: NR6 :: on 23 March 2007

In a media conference call, News Corp. COO Peter Chernin told the Washington Post that, "This is obviously not a YouTube Killer." Most tech bloggers are not impressed with the alliance.

Some thoughts from Michael Arrington from TechCrunch:

The two key messages Chernin and Zucker were selling were (1) a focus on respecting copyright, and (2) the fact that they were creating what they called “the largest advertising platform on earth.” That may be good messaging to stockholders, but it isn’t what the public cares about. I think a better approach would have been to focus on the user experience, but this was hardly mentioned (except at one point when Zucker said “we are shocked at the willingness of the consumer to sit through the whole show with ads on NBC.com”). It’s either arrogance or it’s blindness to the reality of this Bittorent and YouTube world. Either way, it suggests they are in over their head.

ValleyWag compares this video launch attempt to the failed attempt by the music industry to combat Napster:

In 1999, freaked out by the instant popularity of music download services such as Napster, the music industry decided to build its own. EMI, BMG, and, later, Sony Music -- three of the top five record labels -- teamed up with Real Networks to offer legal downloads, an alternative to the mainly pirated tracks swapped by Napster users. What happened? Musicnet, which offered only 100 downloads for the $10 per month it charged, won a place in PC World's list of the worst tech products of all time. It was sold off in 2005.

Techdirt's analysis is a little more positive but they still expect the networks to "screw [it] up."

Without more details, it's hard to get a sense of how good or bad this move is likely to be. While we're skeptical that these companies will get it right (there's a lot of history of them getting these types of things very wrong), it's a good sign that they're focused on the distribution element of it rather than retaining complete control over the videos. It's also a good sign that all of these content providers (even, to a certain extent, Viacom) seem to be recognizing that rather than just shutting down these new distribution avenues, they need to learn how to use them to their advantage. That's definitely an improvement over where we were a few years ago. There are plenty of ways the networks can (and probably will) screw this up, but at least they're doing something.

[Show/Hide] [Reply]   0 Nerd-Its - + Favorite
RE: No YouTube Killer by ldsudduth :: NR7 :: on 23 March 2007

I agree completely; what has made You Tube successful is the ability for anyone, virtually anywhere, to post content themselves. It isn't limited to one set of shows, films, etc. owned by a particular media group or groups. I would agree with the blog comments posted by tomtolman; You Tube has nothing to fear.

You Tube is a visual media venue with virtually no limits; that makes it more appealing overall.

[Show/Hide] [Reply]   0 Nerd-Its - + Favorite
RE: No YouTube Killer by Brandon :: NR9 :: on 23 March 2007

I would agree YouTube has nothing to fear, but I do see the value in a service like this. My wife and I just got rid of cable (changed a $115 bill to a $40 bill and got rid of what is usually just a distraction), but it would be nice to catch episodes of The Office once in a while. As it is now, we can buy seasons on DVD or download them on iTunes, but I don't know why the networks couldn't just stream them online for free.

Slowly but surely, TV is going the way of the dinosaurs. DVRs, in all of their convenient glory, still can't hope to keep up with TV shows on demand. Once this sort of thing becomes prominent, I might have a little date with AppleTV...

Top of this Thread | Top of Page