by 
Rumors tend to have a little more substance when they’re reported in places like the LA Times and TechCrunch. With both of these outlets reporting News Corp. and NBC are joining forces to create a video-sharing site to challenge YouTube, it’s likely going to happen.
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 obviously understand that despite their own immense size, they’re still minnows in the online video space, so they’re seeking help from some of Google’s fiercest competitors.
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.
It certainly seems like the best challenge yet to YouTube. Certainly NBC has some of the hottest online videos anyway – Heroes, The Office and SNL – so they’ll be able to seed the new site with plenty of content.
The biggest question is how much will they screw up the rights management, sharing and advertising on the site, in their quest to make money?
UPDATE: This is now confirmed and will be launched in the summer.
