The Network's Real Answer to YouTube

Well, here's the shocker to the century, NBC and NewsCorp are holding hands in a new venture, which they obviously think will be the next YouTube killer. And, they may be right, I guess. Lots of good (or mediocre, at least) content. Some Web 2.0 bells and whistles will probably be included. Their deals so far (including MySpace, MSN and Yahoo) cover 96% of the American web audience.

But they haven't made the site, yet. And guess what happens when one large behemoth of bureaucracy partners with another. They become an even larger monstrosity of bullshit, red tape, approval levels and group think decision-making. This isn't a couple guys in their dorm room just trying to make something cool, it's turning farmland into Las Vegas overnight. And they'll advertise the shit out of it. And, they'll have people. Lots of people.

Until, those people decide they don't really like the flashing lights and pre-roll ads. But it won't matter. That one show sponsor will become two. And one minute commercial breaks will become three. And, executives with dollar signs in their eyes and pacemakers in their hearts will ruin anything good they may have created in the first place.

But, by then, we'll probably need a DVR to battle the minefield they've created. Good thing there's already people working on that.

Good luck with all that mess. And what the fuck happened to Mark Cuban? He used to seem like such a man of the people, even with that massive war chest.