TV networks may form anti-YouTube cabal

[WhiteTara]

http://news.com.com/TV+networks+may+form+anti-YouTube+cabal/2100-1025_3-6142345.html
update Four major TV networks are considering creating a jointly owned Web site to offer their programming online rather than have to chase down pirated clips on YouTube, a source close to the talks confirmed Monday.

Fox, Viacom, CBS and NBC Universal have been in talks over the last few months, according to the source, who asked to remain anonymous. "We are approaching it seriously," the source said. "They are ongoing and preliminary discussions... Everybody wants to figure out the right (online business) model."

Spokespeople from the four networks either did not return calls seeking comment or declined to comment on the talks, which were first reported Saturday by The Wall Street Journal.

The talks deal with complicated matters for the networks--how to put programming on the Internet without cannibalizing TV efforts; how to do that quickly enough to prevent YouTube from profiting; and how to avoid ceding control or branding to partners. ABC parent Walt Disney is not participating in the talks, preferring to go it alone, while the group snubbed a proposal from News Corp., which also owns Fox, to use its MySpace social-networking site as the host of the video, the source said.

[SoCalDem]

1. they need to just BUTT OUT..

and leave the net alone.,.

It is what it is.. BFD .. if people dare to decide what THEY think was important or funny or shocking..

We GAVE the networks our airwaves, and look what they have done with it,,

They screwed up, and refuse to offer what people want to watch, so now they're pissed because we take a precious few bits of it and share it ..

Perhaps if they ever actually did what they should have been doing for years, people would not feel the need to "do it ourselves"..

[Jack Rabbit]

2. Is that so?

We have ways of handling those corporate idiots . . .



Image from Kill Your Television

[Ignacio Upton]

3. I doubt they are being hurt by YouTube

Also, in the case of CBS you are technically viewing their content for free already if you don't have cable.

[Ian David]

4. They may finally get rid of that pesky "Mission Accomplished" banner after all.

That's what worries me the most.

When Bill Maher outed Ken Mehlman on Larry King, and then CNN tried to throw it down the memory hole.

When Kanye West said, "George Bush doesn't care about black people," and then they cut it from the West Coast re-broadcast.

When The White House edited the "Mission Accomplished" banner out of Commander Codpiece's photo-op.

If they win this, then they can make these things disappear whenever they want.

And you're right about something else-- we trusted them with OUR public airwaves, and they've betrayed our trust. Things like YouTube are our last chance to take back our Public Square and defend our Democracy.