NEW YORK – News Corp. and NBC Universal are planning to go head to head with Google Inc.’s YouTube by launching a yet-to-be named, free online video site this summer.
The new site will feature full-length movies and TV shows, such as Saturday Night Live, The Simpsons and the Borat film.
Yahoo, Microsoft’s MSN and Time Warner’s AOL are listed as distributors of the new video site.
“This is a game changer for Internet video,” said News Corp. COO Peter Chernin in a statement. “We’ll have access to just about the entire U.S. Internet audience. And for the first time, consumers will get what they want – professionally produced video delivered on the sites where they live.”
The site will be supported by advertising. Initial advertisers include General Motors, Cisco Systems, Cadbury Schweppes, and Royal Caribbean.
News Corp. and NBC Universal said there would be “a significant” marketing and promotional budget to advertise the new venture.
On another front, Viacom Inc., parent of MTV and other media properties, filed a $1 billion-plus lawsuit against Google last week for unauthorized use of its videos on YouTube.
