A range of parties have told us that the major media companies have talked seriously about launching a jointly backed video portal that could rival the Google-owned YouTube, although its maddeningly unclear exactly who’s involved and what stage talks are currently at.
An executive close to the situation said Viacom was involved in the plan. “The notion that Viacom is out [of the group] nothing could be further from the truth,” the executive said. “Viacom is very much part of it.”
Another executive with knowledge of Viacom’s position said talks had been very active ahead of the Google acquisition of YouTube, though nothing had been discussed in recent weeks. Viacom had no comment.
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