General Electric's NBC Universal And News Corp are creating an online video site to compete with Google's YouTube.
The media giants have already made deals to distribute through their own websites and AOL, MSN, MySpace, and Yahoo, reaching 96% of U.S. internet users. Starting this summer, users of these established websites will be able to open embedded media players that will link to the NBC Universal and News Corp content.
Advertising deals have been signed with companies including Cadbury Schweppes, Cisco, E-Surance, Intel, and General Motors.
This media alliance will have thousands of hours of clips: hit TV programs from NBC AND Fox and pay-per-download films from their movie studios.
Users will be able to watch ad-supported shows like Heroes, 24, and Saturday Night Live all for free. The consortium will also offer advertisers the opportunity to pair online and on-air ads.
Viacom recently sued YouTube parent Google for not doing enough to keep its content off the site, illustrating the need for News Corp and NBC Universal, parent of CNBC.com, to create their own alternative.
YouTube draws more viewers than the TV networks combined online audience, but this partnership would reach even more viewers.
News Corp and Universal are now in talks with Time Warner, CBS AND Sony Picutures Entertainment to supply shows and web-only video clips.