So here's how the story goes: plucky, fresh-faced tech geeks put together some new web gizmo that quickly becomes one of those things everyone loves. Plucky, fresh-faced tech geeks quickly make a lot of money for doing something that doesn't make a lot of money, but is based on their potential for money. But since plucky, fresh-faced tech geeks run the company themselves with no affiliation to any of the Big Boys, Big Boys slowly lick their chops and move in for the kill, either by buying them out or by competing against them. Say goodbye to plucky, fresh-faced tech geeks and say hello to evil media conglomerate.
Why do we bring this up? Because it's happening to YouTube. Pissed that everyone is watching stuff on YouTube and not one scintilla of a cent of it is going to them, the major media companies are ganging together to gang up on the Tube. The amount of companies bounding together is actually pretty awe-inspiring: News Corp's Fox, Viacom Inc, CBS Corp and General Electric Co's NBC Universal. That's pretty much every TV network except ABC/Disney and a whole bunch of movie studios. Hell, if we were in charge of YouTube, we'd be a little flattered we had those guys going after us. Also a little scared.
What they want to do is create their own web site with all sorts of content on it. Plus a media player to go with it. This way they can figure out ways of cashing in all of this (read ads and monthly fees). Not to mention sue the dickens out of GooTube to keep their stuff from popping up on the site. Like the above video of the Ed Helms’ character singing "Rainbow Connection" in pig-latin to Pam on "the Office" (trust us-- it's brilliant and why aren’t you watching this show?). No word on what this will all mean for Lonely Girl.
Actually, there are skeptics out there who don't think this will work. YouTube has the brand name, a big company behind it, and the community and people on the Web like to stick with the underdog. On the other hand, most people are reading this on their PCs using Explorer while goofing off on finishing a report on Word or Excel. And you know who you are.