Mashable reported last week that Fox, Viacom, NBC Universal and perhaps CBS are working on a rival to YouTube. Now some reports say that Viacom has pulled out of the project this afternoon, putting the entire venture in jeopardy.
Broadcasting & Cable has a brief mention of the trip to Splitsville, and reiterates what others have been saying for weeks: the differing agendas of the parties involved would inevitably lead to conflict. Fox, for instance, wants to hit back at YouTube before they steal visitors and traffic from MySpace. But MySpace competes with Viacom’s MTV Networks - something that was bound to lead to problems. None of the companies commented on the story.
If this is true, I doubt anyone is surprised - your enemies' enemy isn't always your friend, and this group would surely lag behind YouTube in terms of agility and innovation. What's more, CBS' involvement has always been in question.