Beyond YouTube

First he became a top rap artist. Then he turned his talents to the movies as an actor. Now Ice Cube has Internet entrepreneur added to his resume. Cube and his partner DJ Pooh, a record producer and screenwriter who also is a self-described techie, are the latest entertainers to launch a Web site showcasing videos, original music and user-generated material.

Cube and Pooh aren’t just looking to promote their own work. They have loftier ambitions: to create a TV-style network with multiple channels and video from short clips to full-length movies.

UVNTV (short for U View Network Television, at uvntv.com), still in rollout mode, now features about a dozen channels run both by large companies and individual artists. Each channel will be screened for quality but will run its own programming. Snoop Dogg’s Snoopadelic channel features his rap videos; Nextreme TV shows clips of extreme sports such as snowboarding jumps.

All videos are shown in the Microsoft-developed format called Silverlight that promises definition high enough to be played on big screens. Shows can be viewed by time or on demand. And, like most Web sites launching these days, UVNTV includes community-building features along the lines of MySpace.

Eventually, the founders hope thousands of people, studios and corporations will bring their material to UVNTV, drawn by artistic freedom and the chance to make money in the process. They’re inviting everyone from fledgling filmmakers and performers to established stars, networks and companies.

Channel partners will share advertising revenue with UVNTV or sell their own ads on their own channels.

“We figured we needed to think about how could we still be part of entertainment in this future that’s coming out at full speed,” says Cube, whose new movie, “First Sunday,” opened recently. “We didn’t just want to be providers of a product. We wanted to be a full-blown network. I think we’re going to have programming that’s way more interesting than what you can see on your daily television or even YouTube.”

But building a network does not necessarily mean people will flock to see it, says David Card, analyst with Jupiter Research. Building a new destination site from the ground up “is the hardest thing to do,” he says. “There are dozens and dozens of companies doing this. But more importantly, the big guys are doing it, too.”

Forrester Research analyst James McQuivey agrees that the odds are against start-ups like UVNTV. “Every person trying to create one of these YouTube sites has to face the fact that YouTube serves 200 million video views a day. That is a very powerful force,” McQuivey says. Cube says they’re not competing with YouTube or other existing networks, but adding a new player to the mix. “Yeah, (artists) can throw (content) up and hope that it gets seen on a YouTube or whatever. But here you can present it the way you want it. And if you get enough people to come and watch, you become a major player in entertainment.”

Pooh said, “Ice Cube and I have had the No. 1 record in the country, (Cube has had) the No. 1 movie. I’ve had the No. 1 video. And we now will have the No. 1 Web site.

“Nobody thought YouTube would be big,” he says. “I told people about YouTube, and they thought it was the stupidest idea in the world. People were wrong. We’re preparing for the future.”