Vevo In Talks with CBS and NBC?

Industry reports have Google-and-Universal's upcoming music video site Vevo in talks with CBS and NBC to license content - and develop shows for the Web.

Back in April, Google’s YouTube and Universal Music announced plans for a new joint venture music video site called Vevo, with the idea of breaking music videos from major labels out of the amateur-land of YouTube and onto a premiere destination which would get lots of traffic and be able to generate more ad revenue. In June, Sony said it would get on board with Vevo, and now industry reports have Vevo in talks with NBC and CBS to license content to Vevo—and maybe even develop Web-based shows.

The idea is apparently to have Vevo be more than a top-flight site for music videos, but also offer music-related content and programming, including concert footage, artist interviews, and other music-related programming that will help draw eyeballs (and mouseclicks) to the site. Vevo will be powered by the same bac kend that drives YouTube, but users won’t be able to upload material to it: like Hulu, the site will serve as a conduit for major producers to push their material out to consumers. It’s not clear whether content from NBC and CBS would be exclusive to Vevo, or whether the networks would also develop the content for television distribution.

Industry watchers also say Vevo is in talks with additional music labels like EMI and Warner Bros. about integrating their music video content with Vevo.

Vevo is expected to launch in December 2009.