• The New York Times, Monday, July 16, 2007 11:15 AM

Veoh Networks hopes its new VeohTV platform does for Internet TV what YouTube did for online video sharing: dominate. The product is a downloadable application that acts like a Web browser for video, which figures to be a practical way to organize the glut of video--both professional and amateur--that exists on the Web. VeohTV displays both clips from YouTube as well as full-length video from traditional media companies like NBC. But it could ruffle the feathers of big media, and open up the pathway to court.

Unlike, say, Joost (a Web TV competitor), you can watch video from NBC, CBS, Fox and video from other major providers on VeohTV. Veoh says it doesn't need producers' consent because the product is simply a Web browser that filters out everything but online video. It also plays the video from the content maker's site, including any embedded advertising. Even so, founder Dmitry Shapiro says the company is open to striking advertising partnerships to ensure content owners' video can be delivered in the highest quality. Major media doesn't like the idea of appearing side by side with competitors. The Veoh product includes video advertising, but eliminates the banners that appears at their homepages.

Veoh Networks isnt the first online video company to reinvent itself: Sony Corp.'s Cackle, formerly known as Grouper, has today been relaunched as a competitive marketplace for amateur video. In theory, Cackle would become just another channel accessible through VeohTV's video browser.

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