NBC Universal and The News Corporation, parent of FOX TV, have announced a joint venture to sell video clips, TV shows and movies, according to The New York Times on Thursday.

The venture, which is seen as a rival to YouTube, was just announced and is expected to start up this summer. Distribution deals have been struck with AOL, Yahoo, MSN, and MySpace.

"For undisclosed terms, those sites will feature the latest video fare from the media companies as well as shows from their TV and film libraries for viewing on a free basis supported by advertising," the NYT reported.

"We�ll have access to just about the entire U.S. Internet audience at launch," Peter A. Chernin, the president of the News Corporation, said in a statement. "And for the first time, consumers will get what they want � professionally produced video delivered on the sites where they live."

This venture is a little different that some other sites. The aim is to better control the content, something the networks have been struggling to achieve. It will be advertising supported. And finally, the plan is distribute the content through other sites like AOL.

"Users will be able to easily play videos from this site without having to open an additional window or leave AOL�s site," the division of Time Warner said in a statement. "For example, you might be able to read a story about Keifer Sutherland in AOL�s celebrity news area and, with one click, watch the latest episode of �24�."