Google, gird your loins. News Corp., NBC pull together to sink YouTube

Several media giants are teaming up to challenge Google Inc. and its YouTube video-sharing service, seeking to blunt their incursion into the entertainment business. News Corp. and NBC Universal plan to announce as soon as today that they are creating an online video site stocked with TV shows and movies, plus clips that users can modify and share with friends, according to people close to the negotiations.

The two companies enlisted help from some of Google's biggest Internet rivals. The News Corp.-NBC Universal partnership has deals with Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp., Time Warner Inc.'s AOL and News Corp.'s MySpace to place videos in front of their collective audience of hundreds of millions.

Despite Hollywood's dismal track record in creating successful joint ventures, these players see little choice but to band together to compete against Google and Apple Inc., which are becoming powerful distributors of entertainment.

News Corp. and NBC Universal want to control how their shows are watched online and to hold onto advertising dollars migrating to the Web. Google is expected to gobble up nearly a third of all online advertising revenue this year, according to research firm EMarketer Inc.

"You're just pooling resources in the face of the most disruptive force your business has seen ever," said Eric Garland, chief executive of market researcher BigChampagne.

The new venture, which could launch this summer, is envisioned as an advertiser-friendly destination for some of TV's most popular shows, including NBC's "Heroes" and "The Office," and "Family Guy" and "24" from News Corp.'s Fox. The companies also plan to sell downloads of Universal Pictures and 20th Century Fox movies.

But the companies see the service as more than just another video site struggling for an audience. They are also packaging their material and sending it to Yahoo and other sites where millions already gather.

"The media companies don't want to be forced to only work with one distribution entity, in Google," said UBS Warburg media analyst Aryeh Bourkoff. "I don't think it's too late.”

Of course, that depends upon you ask.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-youtube22mar22,0,326504.story