There’s been a lot of discussion today surrounding an LAT article about striking WGA members working with VCs to start digital content companies. Writers can start all the digital content sites they want, it won’t make any difference. Online video in its current state is most valuable as an extension of TV, and MSM owns the most valuable portals.

Independent writer-driven portals? We have those, they’re called Funny or Die and My Damn Channel and they have been at most modestly successful. Their long term potential will never rival that of longer form content distributed on TV.

What these sites have driving their success is star power more than writing. Hollywood will have the eyeballs and as a result the big bucks for talent and promotion for the foreseeable future, and writers is are kidding themselves if they think they can compete on their own.