TV networks ponder YouTube killer

Media moguls rumoured to be plotting video sharing site.

A group of US media giants including Fox, Viacom, NBC and CBS are reportedly in negotiations to launch a video site to compete with YouTube.

The companies have reopened talks to form a joint venture that would feature video content from all four networks, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

News of the talks comes only a few days after Yahoo confirmed that it will be severing ties with Current TV, with which it had been partnering on another YouTube competitor.

The venture is reportedly an effort by the four media giants to gain online advertising revenue from internet postings of TV shows, something that media groups have been accusing YouTube of doing since its launch.

With more than 100 million videos served daily, YouTube is the top video sharing site on the Internet.

The company has a policy of removing any copyrighted materials at the request of the owner. But clips, and in some cases entire episodes, of dozens of popular TV shows are uploaded by users daily and can easily be found on the site.

YouTube has avoided legal action on several occasions in the past year either by striking deals with media outlets or removing copyrighted clips.

The video sharing site was acquired by Google in October for US$1.8bn in stock. Google also has video-sharing deals with several major studios.