Yahoo! plots YouTube rival

US internet giant Yahoo! is in talks with content providers to debut a rival to Google’s YouTube video service this summer.

Yahoo!’s new service aims to offer more generous revenue-sharing deals and fixed ad rates than YouTube is currently delivering to video producers, AdAge reported today.

News first broke that Yahoo! was planning its own streaming site in March, with the company apparently approaching producers currently in partnership with YouTube.

That followed the company’s failed bid to buy web video platform Dailymotion for around US$300m last year.

The news comes as Yahoo! continues to move into longform programming, ordering two 8×30’ comedy series – Other Space and Sin City Saints – in April.

Yahoo! also struck a deal with news anchor Katie Couric to bring a series of high-profile interviews to the website at the end of last year.