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"Verizon Missed the Real Deal With YouTube"

By Jim Cramer
RealMoney.com Columnist
11/7/2006 10:04 AM EST

"Verizon's (VZ - commentary - Cramer's Take - Rating) in advanced talks with YouTube to distribute the site's videos on cell phones and TVs. You read the headlines. How much more would you have liked Verizon this morning if the headline had been "Verizon buys YouTube"? Wouldn't that have been a better use of Verizon's capital than a buyback or a higher dividend?

It drives me crazy that YouTube went to Google (GOOG - commentary - Cramer's Take - Rating). Drives me crazy because it was such a great opportunity for someone offline to become online.

But the offline guys still aren't committed. They're still hiring people to "assess" the Web and make small acquisitions. Of course, News Corp. (NWS.A - commentary - Cramer's Take - Rating) is the only one that stepped up, with MySpace, and that's been huge. I think it paid for itself. If Verizon had bought YouTube, it would be Google paying Verizon to license content.

I'm sure Verizon would have been worried by things like copyright -- lots of lawyers at that place -- and whether advertisers would find a way to debase YouTube the way they did email with spam.

But I believe that in the end, Verizon buying YouTube would have been a bold, price-to-earnings ratio-elevating move, because it actually elevated Google's P/E even more.

Here we are in year 10 of the digital revolution and only one major media company has embraced the Web with any alacrity and respect, and that's the one that has been daring all the way, Murdoch's empire.

My prediction: Google will have game, set, match on the Web because everyone thinks it is easy to do this stuff or that those who develop properties already are asking for too much money in light of what happened 10 years ago.

Too bad, because the old-line guys should see that the clock is really ticking this time. They got lucky a half-decade ago because streaming video was still in its infancy. No more. "

(in www.realmoney.com)

"Google's Web Win"

By Jim Cramer
RealMoney.com Columnist
11/7/2006 7:45 AM EST

"Download everything everywhere! That's today's headline, and it couldn't be more exciting. But is it lucrative? Does anyone make any money off anything, or is it all a loss-leader?

I always puzzle over this stuff because, in each case, the content is too expensive vs. what anyone will pay to download it... except YouTube.com.

For example, I see CBS (CBS - commentary - Cramer's Take) wants to be bigger on the Internet. But what does that mean? Putting CSI and Cold Case on my cell phone? Having treasure hunts on Without a Trace or Shark that can only be answered online?

You will hear and read about all sorts of attempts to monetize every gadget and every program, but the only kind of model that works is where you don't have to pay for the hardware or the content: Google (GOOG - commentary - Cramer's Take - Rating)!

Once again, Google is the winner, except this time it is YouTube. For example, the Verizon (VZ - commentary - Cramer's Take - Rating) deal today (in which it's reportedly in talks to distribute YouTube videos on cell phones and TVs) is my kind of deal. Google does nothing. You do all the work by doing a video; Verizon takes it and Google gets compensated.

It's just like what Google did to newspapers. It expropriates them. Google's like a Bolshevik! It takes the property of others and expropriates it for Google!

The only rival to this model out there is Apple (AAPL - commentary - Cramer's Take - Rating), where people are already so happy with going to iTunes.com that they are comfortable paying, so it isn't much of a chore. The Apple model works, too.

But the main sticking issue here is that the Disneys (DIS - commentary - Cramer's Take - Rating) and the CBSes and the NBCs still do not have their heart in this game. They're still thinking about prime time and making big hits. They are concerned because big offline hits, even single episodes of hits, just totally dwarf anything that is done online. You can try to get additional runs online, but that cannibalizes reruns.

That's why original programming done for the Web, done cheaply, is the hope of the future.

That's YouTube.

That's Google. "

(in www.realmoney.com)